Purpose of expedition:  Exploration of a surface of Mars 

Launch vehicle: Delta II

Launch site: Space port «Cape Canaveral» (Florida, USA)

Time of launch: 11:02:22 Eastern Time USA, April 7, 2001

Mars orbit insertion:  02:30 Universal Time, October 24, 2001

Nominal active existence on science orbit:  917 Earth days, January 2002 - July 2004

Full mass on flight trajectory to Mars: 725.0 kg

Mass without fuel and scientific load: 331.8 kg

Mass of a scientific equipment: 44.5 kg

Volume of the storage memory: 128 Mb

Period of orbit: under 2 hours

Altitude of orbit 400 km 

Orbit inclination:93,1^o

Fig. 1. Scheme of mission «2001 MARS ODYSSEY» (to see more click on picture)

  Scientific equipment of spacecraft (see figure 2)

• GRS – Gamma-Ray Spectrometer with Neutron Spectrometer (NS) and High Energy Neutrons Detector (HEND created in Institute for Space Research under contract with Rosaviakosmos) for study of element distribution at the surface of Mars and search for water.

• THEMIS – the Thermal Emission Imaging System for study of the surface of Mars in the visible and infrared part of the spectrum in order to determine the distribution of minerals on the surface of Mars.

• MARIE – the Martian Radiation Environment Experiment for measurement of radiation in space and the radiation environment of Mars and analysis of its potential harmful effect on humans.

Fig. 2 View of 2001 MARS ODYSSEY spacecraft (to see more click on picture)

Full description of the orbiter is on site http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/