Mars Pathfinder Update #3 - July 5, 1997

[Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>]

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 5, 1997
             11:50 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
     
     Mars Pathfinder's robust, 23-pound rover named Sojourner 
successfully rolled off its ramp tonight and onto the Martian 
surface, becoming the first robotic vehicle ever to explore the 
surface of another planet. 

     The first image showing Sojourner with its six wheels firmly 
planted in sandy Martian terrain was received on Earth at about 
10:59 p.m. PDT. The rover team did not know immediately what time 
the rover actually set foot on Martian soil. Rover deployment 
occurred within 10 minutes of Earth set, at which time 
telecommunications on Mars ceases as the Earth disappears below 
the horizon. Two-way communications resume at about 11 a.m. PDT 
on Sunday, July 6.  

      The operations team examined a set of black-and-white 
images showing the ramp deployment before activating the command 
sequence to deploy the rover. More than 90 frames coming down 
during an 8 - 9:15 p.m. PDT transmission showed that both ramps 
were situated at angles well within the limits of safe 
deployment. The rover team sent Sojourner down the rear ramp, or 
the ramp on the right side of the lander, which was tilted at 
just 20 degrees from the surface. The rover would not have been 
able to roll off the ramps had they exceeded a 30-degree tilt. 

     Sojourner made the trek down its ramp in two stages, first 
crawling half way down the ramp and stopping to take a photograph 
of the ramp, then continuing its 4-minute journey off the ramp.  
Additional images showed rover wheel tracks in soft Martian soil 
and the rover standing about 10 centimeters (0.3 feet) from the 
end of the ramp. The lander's camera also took photographs of the 
rover's exit. Once off the ramp, Sojourner unlatched its primary 
science instrument, an alpha proton X-ray spectrometer, and 
positioned it face down in the Martian soil to take 10 hours of 
measurements overnight.  

     The first science investigations beginning on Sunday, July 
6, the third day of surface operations, are likely to include a 
soil mechanics experiment to observe how the rover's wheels and 
mobility system operate on the Martian surface and a rover 
photography session to create a "monster pan" of the surface in 
multiple color, high resolution format. The operations team also 
plans to increase Pathfinder's data rate to 6,300 bits per second 
to retrieve as much data as possible over the next week, which 
marks the primary lifetime of the rover. 

     A press briefing to announce science activities for day 
three is scheduled for 10 a.m. PDT on Sunday, July 6, in JPL's 
von Karman Auditorium.

     The public is encouraged to follow Mars Pathfinder mission 
activities via the World Wide Web by visiting the Pathfinder site 
at: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov. 

                             #####

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