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by Bob Richards, CEO Odyssey Moon
Today’s weather report from Mars is great, thanks to Odyssey Moon partners MDA Space Missions and Optech Incorporated. Our two industrial partners are part of the NASA Phoenix Mars mission, which successfully landed on the Red Planet on May 25th, 2008 after a victorious 422 million mile voyage chasing Mars around the Sun. Odyssey Moon prime contractor MDA was responsible for the creation of a number of technologies on the Phoenix Mars lander, including the lidar (laser radar) system designed and built in partnership with Optech Incorporated. The lidar plays a central role in the Meteorological Station contributed to NASA by the Canadian Space Agency, which has now surpassed its first week of flawless operation, probing the content and structure of the Martian atmosphere.
Odyssey Moon announced MDA as its prime contractor in December 2007. The company was selected because of its track record of delivering cost-effective and reliable space systems for over 40 years. Optech Incorporated, who partnered with MDA for the development of space lidar systems, was also announced as a corporate partner of Odyssey Moon.
I was privileged to lead Optech’s role in the Phoenix program as director of the company’s space division. In this position I had front row seats to the level of dedication and technical expertise that’s required for an end to end planetary excursion, including the dramatic Phoenix landing which I watched from the University of Arizona Mission Science Operations Centre. It is a thrill to be partnered with organizations like MDA, NASA, CSA, JPL, Lockheed and the University of Arizona on such an ambitious mission. Space is hard and requires an experienced team to do it right. Odyssey Moon is confident that our industrial team will help us enjoy the same high level of success as we reach for the Moon and the Google Lunar X PRIZE.
The Phoenix Mars mission, led by Dr. Peter Smith of the University of Arizonais, is the first mission under NASA’s “Scout” program. The $420 million project has delivered the first mission to reach the arctic region of the Red Planet, carrying a 59-kilogram cargo package of instruments and a robotic arm to search for water and traces of organic chemicals essential for life. Optech founder and Chairman Dr. Allan Carswell is one of the principal scientists on the mission. He is using the Phoenix lidar to study the atmosphere of Mars to help understand the forces driving climate change on Mars and here on Earth.
In a recent news release, Odyssey Moon Chairman, Dr. Ramin Khadem, described the Phoenix Mars mission as an extraordinary testament to what a team can accomplish in the face of almost incalculable challenges.
Odyssey Moon extends its congratulations to its prime contractor MDA Space Missions and industrial partner Optech for the critical role they are playing in the successful Phoenix Mars lander program, wishing the multinational Phoenix Team continued success delivering phenomenal new knowledge about Mars and increasing our understanding of the planetary processes affecting our own Planet Earth.
More about the Phoenix mission at: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php [2]
Mars weather reports available at: http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/exploration/phoenix.asp [3]
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