"The Mars Odyssey patch was designed by Corby Waste. Corby has also produced much of the artwork. of NASA spacecraft. For the Odyssey patch, Corby decided to create a “science logo.” In all the artwork Corby was doing for the Odyssey mission, the spacecraft was just seen hovering over Mars. He wanted to create a logo depicting the Odyssey instruments “in action.” On the right side of Mars, the Thermal Imaging System (THEMIS) instrument is taking infrared data. On the left, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) is taking gamma ray data. The shape of the logo was “invented” by Corby. “It was something I just like…not round, not square, it was something new.” Within the border of the logo are all the institutions involved with the Odyssey mission: Arizona State University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Space Center, NASA, Lockheed Martin and The University of Arizona."

As published in "Lesson 4: History of Mars Exploration"