2001 Mars Odyssey

Engineers and scientists working on the 2001 Mars Odyssey project began looking at ways to reduce risks to their mission immediately after the loss of Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander in 1999. In addition to the independent assessments made by the project, the team has also followed recommendations made by the NASA review boards investigating the losses and a NASA "Red Team" assigned to review the project. Among the risk reduction actions taken are:

Identified parameters critical to mission success and did an independent verification of these parameters

Listed both imperial and metric units on documentation for hand-off between systems and subsystems

Added key staff at both JPL and Lockheed Martin

Moved launch to Kennedy Space Center instead of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to provide additional schedule margin and reduce how much the spacecraft's battery is discharged during launch

Prepared mission fault trees and conducted mission risk reviews to formulate risk mitigation actions

Conducted an independent verification and validation of the flight software by NASA personnel in Fairmont , West Virginia

Conducted additional flight software tests to stress the design under off-nominal conditions.

Added check valves in the propulsion system to isolate the fuel and oxidizer until the moment of the Mars orbit insertion main engine burn

Conducted additional pyro qualification test firings over a broader set of conditions

Conducted additional thruster test firings to demonstrate proper operation under cold starting conditions

Conducted life-cycling tests for assemblies in the communication system that are cycled on and off during flight

Conducted additional measurements to assess the interference between the relay radio and the orbiter and instrument electronics

Changed out suspect capacitors in orbiter electronics based on failures of similar capacitors on another program

Added second- and third-shift testing to add operating time and build confidence in orbiter electronics

Added ability to receive telemetry from spacecraft during the pressurization process prior to the Mars orbit insertion main engine burn

Increased navigation tracking data during cruise

Added delta differential one-way range measurements, called "delta DOR," that provide an independent measurement of the orbiter location relative to Mars

Moved the point at which recovery from a fault would be impossible closer to Mars orbit insertion to minimize the time the system is not redundant

Conducted additional oxidizer burn-to-depletion test to build confidence in and select parameters for the Mars orbit insertion strategy

Raised Mars capture orbit design to a higher altitude

Conducted additional studies to ensure that there is no fuel migration within the propulsion system that would cause excessive imbalance during the orbit insertion main engine burn

Conducted an independent verification of Mars aerobraking by NASA Langley Research Center

Adopted a more conservative Mars aerobraking profile to allow for dust storms and wider atmospheric variations

Assigned clear lines of responsibility within the organization to improve communication

Formalized operations team training

Designated personnel to transition from development to operations

Added a tracking station in Santiago, Chile, to fill in telemetry gaps after launch and early in cruise phase