Monitoring Fuel Levels on NASA's Oldest Mars Orbiter
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been monitoring the fuel supply of the Mars Odyssey Orbiter, which has been orbiting Mars for over 22 years. The spacecraft has no fuel gauge, so engineers have had to rely on math to estimate the amount of hydrazine propellant remaining. Recent calculations indicated that the spacecraft was running low on fuel, but after months of investigation, the team discovered that the fuel measurement process was more complicated than they thought. The spacecraft should have enough fuel to last at least through the end of 2025.