[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Mars Pathfinder Update #3 - 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
                 9:15 p.m. Pacific Time

     The Mars Pathfinder imaging team tonight unveiled the first 
photograph of Ares Vallis, an ancient water channel that at one 
time in Mars' early history carried more than 1,000 times the 
amount of flowing water carried by the Amazon River today. The 
color panorama, which drew enthusiastic applause at a 6:30 p.m. 
press briefing, was taken by the lander's Imager for Mars 
Pathfinder camera -- called the "IMP" -- before the camera was 
deployed on its mast. The photograph revealed a rocky desert 
scape with numerous large boulders and mountains on the horizon. 

     The images were transmitted during Pathfinder's first high-
gain antenna transmission, which began at 4:28 p.m. PDT today. 
Totaling about 120, the postage stamp-sized black-and-white 
frames also included close-up photographs of the lander petals 
with the rover sitting in its stowed position in the foreground. 
Closer examination showed that one of the airbags did not fully 
retract and had become draped slightly over the edge of the 
rover's petal. 

     The Pathfinder flight and rover teams decided to test a new 
command sequence that would pull the obstructed petal up about 45 
degrees, further retract the airbag, then lay the petal down 
again. The team tested this command sequence before uplinking it 
to the spacecraft starting at about 7:08 p.m. PDT. Return images 
from that transmission will be used by the rover team to 
determine if the "petal move" sequence cleared the petal enough 
to allow for safe deployment of the rover ramps. Part of the 
image data were not received during the next downlink session due 
to a problem with the Deep Space Network tracking station. The 
remaining images were scheduled to be retransmitted during the 
last transmission of the day, which was to begin at 10 p.m. PDT. 

     If ramp deployment is postponed, the flight team will 
perform this activity Saturday morning.  The rover would then be 
ready to roll off its ramp and onto the surface of Mars by about 
5 p.m. PDT July 5.
 
                           #####