Planetary Science

Mars Odyssey

Orbiter · Directed · Agency-led · Launched on April 7, 2001 · Extended Mission · LCC: $222M/$449M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For Mars Odyssey, papers published March 1, 2002 to January 1, 2024. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For Mars Odyssey, papers published from 2002 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods611
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods28,436
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods84
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods140
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods3.4
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods219
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods592

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (611)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) for the Mars 2001 Odyssey Mission

    Christensen, Philip R., 2004, SSRv

    888 lifetime citations

  2. Distribution of Hydrogen in the Near Surface of Mars: Evidence for Subsurface Ice Deposits

    Boynton, W. V., 2002, Sci

    815 lifetime citations

  3. Global Distribution of Neutrons from Mars: Results from Mars Odyssey

    Feldman, W. C., 2002, Sci

    479 lifetime citations

  4. Eight-year climatology of dust optical depth on Mars

    Montabone, L., 2015, Icar

    437 lifetime citations

  5. Chloride-Bearing Materials in the Southern Highlands of Mars

    Osterloo, M. M., 2008, Sci

    433 lifetime citations

  6. A synthesis of Martian aqueous mineralogy after 1 Mars year of observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

    Murchie, Scott L., 2009, JGRE

    420 lifetime citations

  7. Detection of methane in the martian atmosphere: evidence for life?

    Krasnopolsky, Vladimir A., 2004, Icar

    419 lifetime citations

  8. Evidence for Persistent Flow and Aqueous Sedimentation on Early Mars

    Malin, Michael C., 2003, Sci

    411 lifetime citations

  9. Morphology and Composition of the Surface of Mars: Mars Odyssey THEMIS Results

    Christensen, Philip R., 2003, Sci

    340 lifetime citations

  10. Maps of Subsurface Hydrogen from the High Energy Neutron Detector, Mars Odyssey

    Mitrofanov, I., 2002, Sci

    337 lifetime citations

  11. Global distribution of near-surface hydrogen on Mars

    Feldman, W. C., 2004, JGRE

    336 lifetime citations

  12. The presence and stability of ground ice in the southern hemisphere of Mars

    Mellon, Michael T., 2004, Icar

    326 lifetime citations

  13. Mars high resolution gravity fields from MRO, Mars seasonal gravity, and other dynamical parameters

    Konopliv, Alex S., 2011, Icar

    325 lifetime citations

  14. High-resolution thermal inertia derived from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS): Thermal model and applications

    Fergason, Robin L., 2006, JGRE

    289 lifetime citations

  15. Magnesium sulphate salts and the history of water on Mars

    Vaniman, David T., 2004, Natur

    279 lifetime citations

  16. A global solution for the Mars static and seasonal gravity, Mars orientation, Phobos and Deimos masses, and Mars ephemeris

    Konopliv, Alex S., 2006, Icar

    271 lifetime citations

  17. Perennial water ice identified in the south polar cap of Mars

    Bibring, Jean-Pierre, 2004, Natur

    262 lifetime citations

  18. The global martian volcanic evolutionary history

    Werner, Stephanie C., 2009, Icar

    262 lifetime citations

  19. Mosaicking of global planetary image datasets: 1. Techniques and data processing for Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) multi-spectral data

    Edwards, C. S., 2011, JGRE

    253 lifetime citations

  20. Evidence for Precipitation on Mars from Dendritic Valleys in the Valles Marineris Area

    Mangold, Nicolas, 2004, Sci

    249 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming Mars Odyssey in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

((=abs:"Mars Odyssey" OR ((abs:Odyssey OR abs:ODY OR abs:THEMIS OR abs:GRS OR =abs:"Gamma Ray Spectrometer" OR =abs:"Thermal Emission Imaging System") AND (abs:Mars OR abs:Martian)) OR (abs:HEND AND (abs:Mars OR abs:Odyssey)) OR =abs:"Odyssey data" OR =abs:"Odyssey observations" OR =abs:"Odyssey spacecraft" OR =abs:"Gamma-Ray Spectrometer on Odyssey" OR =abs:"Odyssey Gamma-Ray Spectrometer")) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2002-03 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (17)

  1. An introduction—Geophysics: Doing it in space Introduction to a journal special section; not a research paper. Decision 🤖
  2. Study of hot flow anomalies using Cluster multi-spacecraft measurements Refers to the Earth-orbiting THEMIS mission; not Mars Odyssey's THEMIS camera. Decision 🤖
  3. Proposal on application of Russian technical facilities for International Mars Research Program for 2009 2015 Proposal for a future Mars programme; mentions Odyssey only as background. Decision 🤖
  4. Planetary protection implementation on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission Describes planetary protection for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter; Odyssey is only a comparison. Decision 🤖
  5. The concept of gamma-ray remote sensing of Martian surface composition onboard a Mars Rover Concept for a rover gamma-ray instrument; does not mention Mars Odyssey. Decision 🤖
  6. Numerical modeling of mapping of Martian epithermal neutron emission: Applications to FREND investigation onboard ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter Modelling study for the FREND instrument on ExoMars TGO; cites Odyssey only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  7. Multipoint Detection of GRB221009A's Propagation through the Heliosphere Uses the Earth-orbiting THEMIS mission; not Mars Odyssey's THEMIS camera. Decision 🤖
  8. SHARP Shock Database Uses the Earth-orbiting THEMIS mission; not Mars Odyssey's THEMIS camera. Decision 🤖
  9. The Evolution of Compressible Solar Wind Turbulence in the Inner Heliosphere: PSP, THEMIS, and MAVEN Observations Uses the Earth-orbiting THEMIS mission; not Mars Odyssey's THEMIS camera. Decision 🤖
  10. A Novel Flexible Architecture Based on SAM for Automatic Extraction of Rampart Craters From Martian High-Resolution Images Crater-mapping method; does not mention Mars Odyssey or its instruments. Decision 🤖
  11. Mars Science Laboratory Mission and Science Investigation Overview of the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) mission; Mars Odyssey is mentioned only in passing. Decision 🤖
  12. Introduction to special section on the Phoenix Mission: Landing Site Characterization Experiments, Mission Overviews, and Expected Science Overview of the Phoenix mission; Mars Odyssey is mentioned only as context for the landing site. Decision 🤖
  13. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Radio Science Gravity Investigation Description of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter gravity investigation; Mars Odyssey is mentioned only as a source of supporting tracking data. Decision 🤖
  14. Mission design of the Phoenix Mars Scout mission Mission design of the Phoenix lander; Mars Odyssey is mentioned only as context for the landing site. Decision 🤖
  15. Arab world's first Mars probe takes to the skies Nature staff news article reporting mission results; a news item, not research. Decision 🤖
  16. Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer for the Dawn Mission to 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta Describes Dawn's gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer; mentions Mars Odyssey only as design heritage. Decision 🤖
  17. Measuring the Elemental Composition of Phobos: The Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and NEutrons (MEGANE) Investigation for the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) Mission Describes the MEGANE instrument for Japan's MMX mission; its GRS is MEGANE's own spectrometer, not Odyssey's. Decision 🤖