Odin is an international astronomy and aeronomy mission led by Sweden, with Canada, France, and Finland as partners. Canada has a 20% share in both aspects of the mission, with funding provided by The Canadian Space Agency and by The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council. Dr. Kwok is the Principal Investigator for Astronomy in Canada. Odin was launched from Svobodny, Siberia on February 20, 2001. The duration of the mission was expected to be 2 years, but Odin is still observing in 2005.

Four sub-millimetre bands are accessible, centred on 495, 548, 555 and 571 GHz. The radiometer provides a 17 GHz tuning range about each of these frequencies and has an instantaneous bandwidth of 1 GHz. There is also a fifth band in the millimetre range centred on 119 GHz. The spatial resolution is ~2 arcmin at sub-millimetre wavelengths and ~9 arc min at 119 GHz. Many molecular and atomic lines of astronomical interest are accessible for the first time. A major goal is to study the interstellar and circumstellar oxygen chemistry using water and oxygen molecules. These species are key to the oxygen budget but neither is detectable from the ground. Odin observations have an impact on a wide range of subjects including molecular cloud chemistry, shock chemistry, star-forming cores, circumstellar envelopes, interstellar clouds, photodissociation regions, comets, planetary atmospheres, and extragalactic molecules. The University of Calgary participated in the building of the submm receiver payload, in software simulations and is active in data processing and analysis.

Odin Poster