A computer glitch on Friday caused the Mars orbiter Odyssey to reboot. On Monday engineers discovered the Odyssey is currently in "safe mode." This happens when the orbiter detects some problem that is serious enough to cause it to cease normal operations and work in a state of low activity until it receives further instructions from Earth. Engineers are currently working to correct the problem and the Mission manager expects Odyssey to be fully operational by the middle of the week.
The Odyssey orbiter is normally used to relay data from the rovers on the surface of Mars back to Earth. However, since the problem occurred the rovers have been using their "high-gain" antennas to speak directly with Earth. Consequently, we will be receiving less data from the rovers until the Odyssey is fully operational.
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