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Mars Pathfinder Update - 07/09/97

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 9, 1997
3 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
     
     Six days after landing in an ancient outflow channel called 
Ares Vallis, the Mars Pathfinder lander and rover continue to 
operate extremely well, returning unprecedented amounts of data 
during daily downlink sessions. 

     Yesterday, Pathfinder returned 85 megabits of data on the 
Martian atmosphere, weather, soil and a rock called "Barnacle 
Bill," the first rock on Mars ever to be studied up close and 
personal. Additional rover and lander imaging was also returned.           

     Tonight the operations team will perform a low-gain antenna 
session
from 6:30 p.m.- 7 p.m. PDT to acquire data on the health of the 
lander and rover. A three-hour high-gain transmission will begin 
later this evening, at 10 p.m. - 1:30 a.m. PDT, at the higher 
data rate.

     The rover has completed its soil analysis of the smooth, 
moat-like terrain around a large boulder named "Yogi." After 
completing the analysis, the rover retracted the alpha proton X-
ray spectrometer, then conducted a wheel abrasion experiment in 
which it dug into the soil and disturbed the crusty material as 
it was turning its wheels.  This soil abrasion test is one of 
many technology and mobility experiments planned for the rover to 
help engineers understand the dynamics of its mobility on Martian 
soil for future generations of rovers. 

     "We used the rover as sort of a bulldozer to push this rock 
and crusty material up," said Dr. Matthew Golombek, Pathfinder 
project scientist at a 1 p.m. PDT press briefing.  "Next the 
rover moved slightly to the left and imaged Yogi with its front 
cameras, then turned around and imaged the lander with its front 
cameras. After that, the rover will photograph Yogi at close 
range. That data will be returned tonight."   

     Further preliminary analysis of "Barnacle Bill" showed that 
its texture seems to be consistent with volcanic "andesites," the 
second most common volcanic rock on Earth, said Dr. Jeff Johnson, 
of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, AZ, who is on the 
Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) camera team.

     Scientists will use reflectance spectra collected by the 
lander and rover cameras to determine whether the rock, which 
measures about 40 centimeters (1.3 feet) across and 1.1 to 1.5 
centimeters (8-to-10-inches) tall, is a sedimentary rock composed 
of many different rock fragments, or whether it is "homogenous," 
which would be consistent with scientists' first impression that 
it is a volcanic rock. 

     On a lighter note, Dr. Peter Smith, principal investigator 
of the IMP team, shared some of his personal insights on what 
it's like to be living on local Mars time, which means working on 
a 24-hour, 37-minute clock each day.  

     "When you say good morning, and the sun is setting, now 
that's living on Martian solar time.  When your sunglasses start 
looking like this (holding up the red-and-blue stereo glasses 
used to view images in 3-D), that's living on Martian time. When 
you start admiring strange-looking rocks and giving them names, 
then telling your friends, that's living on Martian time. When 
your days are called Sols, and your nights are called days, 
that's living on Martian time. But when you start laughing at the 
engineers' jokes, you know you're living on Martian time."  

     Next on the rover's schedule of investigations are two rocks 
that appear white or very light in color: "Casper" and "Scubee-
Dubee-Doo," located off to the left of the Pathfinder lander.  
Among the many images planned in the next week are shots of the 
Martian sunset and sunrise; pictures of the Martian moons Phobos 
and Deimos; and pictures of "Twin Peaks," two sloping hills that 
are about 800 meters (about half a mile) away from the landing 
site. 
           
     The next scheduled press briefing will be held at 12:30 p.m. 
Pacific Daylight Time on July 10 in JPL's von Karman Auditorium.

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