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Mars Pathfinder Update - July 30, 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 30, 1997
              4:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time

     Pathfinder's 10.5-kilogram (23-pound) rover called Sojourner 
stalled today during the last stretch of its journey to a rock 
nicknamed Mermaid, but was quick to recover and prepare for 
completion of the traverse tomorrow.

     Data returned this morning from the Sagan Memorial Station 
indicated that the rover's left front wheel stalled during the 
third of four waypoint maneuvers. Waypoints are navigational 
instructions -- consisting of x- and y-axis coordinates -- used 
by the rover to travel from one rock to another. To complete 
today's traverse to the rock nicknamed Mermaid, for instance, the 
rover had to make four short trips based on four sets of waypoint 
coordinates.  Its wheel jammed during the third segment of the 
journey.

     "This stall was probably caused by a small rock becoming 
jammed in one of the rover wheel's cleats," said Flight Director 
David Gruel. "Once the rover detected the stall on its own, she 
was able to autonomously clear the problem by backing up a short 
distance. Since the stall did not exist after the backup was 
performed, there's a high probability that Sojourner is ready to 
continue the drive around the lander tomorrow."

     Approximately 55 megabits of engineering and science data 
were returned today. All data indicated the lander and rover are 
healthy and the lander's battery continues to power the craft 
through the subfreezing nights on Mars. The rover returned a 
"spectacular" image today of the rear of the lander and the rock 
nicknamed Mini Matterhorn.

      Temperatures on Mars today ranged from a balmy minus 13 
degrees Celsius (8 degrees Fahrenheit) at 5:35 p.m. local solar 
time to minus 79 degrees Celsius (minus 105 degrees Fahrenheit) 
at 5:30 a.m. local time.  Winds were light and from the west.

      On this Martian day, Sol 26, Earthrise occurred at 2:09 
a.m. PDT and sunrise followed at 5:12 a.m. PDT.  The Earth later 
set at 3:43 p.m. PDT and Pathfinder will observe its 26th sunset 
at 6 p.m. PDT.

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