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Mars Pathfinder Update #1 - July 4, 1997

PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

            Mars Pathfinder Mission Status
                    July 4, 1997
           7:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time

     Mars Pathfinder is right on course for a landing in Ares 
Vallis, an ancient outflow channel in the northern hemisphere of 
Mars, at 10:07 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time today. 

     The navigation team reported that the final trajectory 
correction maneuver, which could have been performed either 12 
hours or six hours prior to Pathfinder's entry into the upper 
atmosphere, was not necessary. An early morning orbital update 
indicated that Pathfinder was heading straight for the center of 
its 60-mile-by-120-mile landing ellipse and was expected to enter 
the upper atmosphere at a 13.9-degree angle, just three-quarters 
of a degree off its original entry angle of 14.2 degrees. Pieter 
Kallemeyn, navigation team chief, estimated that the spacecraft 
would touch down at 19.0 degrees north latitude, 326.3 degrees 
east longitude. 

     "To give you an idea of the accuracy that we have achieved 
here, this is the equivalent of playing a round of golf in which 
the hole is in Houston, Texas, and the tee-off is in Pasadena, 
California," Kallemeyn said.  "We're basically hitting a hole in 
one here."

     Spacecraft events prior to landing will include release of 
the cruise stage at about 9:32 a.m. PDT; entry into the upper 
atmosphere at about 10:02 a.m. PDT; and landing 4.5 minutes 
later. 

     The spacecraft is currently about 198,000 kilometers 
(123,000 miles) from Mars, traveling at a velocity of about 
24,500 kilometers per hour (15,277 miles per hour) with respect 
to Mars. 

     The flight team expects to receive the first low-gain signal 
from the spacecraft at about 2:07 p.m. PDT.  Contained in that 
transmission will be information about the spacecraft's entry, 
descent and landing, atmospheric science data and details on the 
health of the lander and rover. 

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