The Mars Odyssey Experiments in the Interplanetary Network

The Mars Odyssey mission was launched in April 2001, and has been detecting cosmic gamma-ray bursts almost continuously from May 2001 to the present time. The spacecraft carries two independent systems for GRB detection, the High Energy Neutron Monitor (HEND) and the Gamma-Sensor Head (GSH), which comprise a scintillator and a germanium crystal, respectively. Although there have been numerous attempts to place a GRB detector on a Mars mission, this is the first one which has succeeded. We will describe the detectors, discuss the burst detection rates, highlight some interesting results, and mention future prospects.