This is in response to Jacob Samorodin's post at:
http://www.habitablezone.com/space/messages/12300.html

Jake wrote:
When Mars Odyssey reaches Mars in October, will that spacecraft
collect any "contingency" science data and images prior to attaining its near-circular optimum martian orbit in January/2002?

Alex writes:
I just read your original post and I presume that when you refer to "collect[ion of] any 'contingency' science data and images prior to attaining...near-circular optimum martian orbit in January/2002..." you are referring to science collection during aerobraking (a la MGS)? Coincidentally, I had a conversation over the weekend with both Steve Saunders, the 2001 Mars Odyssey Project Scientist, and David Spencer, the 2001 Mars Odyssey Mission Manager, about this very subject.

The issue of 2001 Mars Odyssey science data collection during aerobraking will be addressed within the next couple of weeks as the science teams are currently formulating their requests for observations during this period (the baseline assumed no collection until the Science Phase of the mission started in January 2002). The MARIE instrument will likely request to be left on throughout aerobraking, the High Energy Neutron Detector will likely request that their high voltage be turned off during the drag passes, and the Neutron Spectrometer wants to take data after aerobraking is complete but before Mars Odyssey goes to nadir-pointing. It has not yet been decided which of these activities will be approved. There is a strong desire to maintain the flight team's focus on spacecraft health & safety.

For those who are not aware, 2001 Mars Odyssey's instruments will operate on a time-phased basis depending on the optimum conditions (surface illumination, equatorial crossing time, etc.) for each. Specifically, THEMIS operates during the first 300 and last 300 days of the 917 day science mission, GRS operates during the last 817 days, and MARIE operates throughout. The latest plan does not include an orbit transfer maneuver to a sun-synchronous inclination (originally for THEMIS)--the orbit local solar time is allowed to continuously drift later throughout the mission. This will be revisited after MOI.

Hope this helps.

Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii