Mars Pathfinder Update - 07/06/97

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

MARS PATHFINDER MISSION STATUS
6 July 1997, 11:30 am PDT

Today is a working day on Mars. Both the Imager for Mars Pathfinder and the
Sojourner Rover have their work cutout for them today.

First, the Imager will be taking what the Mars Pathfinder team
affectionately calls the "monster panorama." It will image the entire 360
degree view using both "eyes" and its red filter. The use of spectral
filters enables geologists to get a good idea of the composition of rocks
and soil.

The resulting stereo image will also be an important planning tool for
Sojourner controllers since they will be able to see in 3 dimensions and
plan for the upcoming activities accordingly. The rover driver will be able
to put on his stereo goggles and plan the route the rover will be taking to
get to the first designated target rock.

This rock, now named "Barnacle Bill" has interesting features that Mars
Pathfinder scientists and geologists are eager to see close-up. Today the
rover will make a 20 degree turn and back up to this rock in order to place
its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) there.

Good news coming out of Mars Pathfinder Mission Control: the data rate at
which the lander communicates back to Earth has been increased to 8 kb/sec,
an unprecedented communication rate this early in a mission. This will
allow more data to be received back here on Earth, and more commands to be
sent up to Mars.


For further information, please visit our website at http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov.

--------------------------------------
Status report prepared by:
Office of the Flight Operations Manager
Mars Pathfinder Project
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91109
--------------------------------------

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