An aging but dependable NASA probe has tweaked its orbit around Mars to seek out warmer ground on the distant, red world.
NASA reckons the infrared cameras aboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft will work better over regions exposed to more sunlight, so it shifted the probe's orbit in order to steer its camera eyes away from the evening shade. The move took nearly eight months, , but Odyssey's infrared camera now peers onto the planet during the Martian afternoon, earlier than it has during most of its seven-year mission.
More: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090703-mars-odyssey-orbit-shift.html (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090703-mars-odyssey-orbit-shift.html)