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Flight Team Makes Final Attempt To Contact Mars Pathfinder

MEDIA RELATIONS 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

NOTE TO EDITORS                             March 9, 1998

FLIGHT TEAM MAKES FINAL ATTEMPT TO CONTACT PATHFINDER LANDER

     The Mars Pathfinder flight team will make its final attempt 
to contact the spacecraft tomorrow using NASA's Deep Space 
Network 34-meter antenna at Goldstone, CA.

     Media are invited into the Pathfinder control room to view 
the communications attempt and interview project representatives. 
The tracking pass will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time and conclude 
at 1:45 p.m.

     Project representative Ben Toyashima will be the "ace," or 
primary flight controller, listening for a signal from the 
spacecraft.  One-way light time from Earth to Mars is currently 
19 minutes, 30 seconds, so a two-way signal could be received in 
about 40 minutes.  If no signal is detected within the first hour 
of the pass, Toyashima will send a set of commands to activate 
the spacecraft's thumbnail-size auxiliary transmitter, located on 
the top of the lander's base petal.  Although the flight team is 
not optimistic that a signal will be received, they would see a 
brief blip on the computer monitor if the spacecraft is still 
operating. 

     Mars Pathfinder fell silent on Sept. 27, 1997, which was the 
83rd day of surface operations, after having nearly tripled its 
design lifetime of 30 days.

     Media planning to attend the communications session are 
asked to contact the JPL Media Relations Office at (818) 354-5011 
to prearrange their visit.  

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