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Mars Global Surveyor Update - July 11, 1997
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- Subject: Mars Global Surveyor Update - July 11, 1997
- From: Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>
- Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 18:58:35 GMT
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Mars Global Surveyor
Flight Status Report
Friday, 11 July 1997
On Tuesday morning, the Surveyor spacecraft and flight team
participated in a live simulation of telecommunications procedures with
one of the Deep Space Network's tracking stations in Madrid, Spain. This
readiness test was designed to prepare both the flight team and tracking
station personnel for Mars mapping operations that will commence on 15
March 1998.
During mapping operations, Surveyor will circle the red planet once
every two hours. On each orbit, the spacecraft will pass behind Mars and
will not be able to maintain a communications link with the Earth. Upon
entry and exit into this occultation zone, Surveyor's radio signal will
pass through the thin Martian atmosphere on its way to Earth. An analysis
of the distortion of the signal's strength and tone as it fades and
reappears will enable scientists to determine the atmospheric properties
at a specific location on Mars.
Tuesday's simulation was performed because tracking the spacecraft
as its signal repeatedly passes in and out of the Martian atmosphere
requires practice. During the readiness test, the spacecraft turned its
radio transmitter on and off over the course of a six-hour period in
order to simulate three orbits worth of communications events. Several
more of these readiness tests are scheduled over the course of the next
two months.
After a mission elapsed time of 246 days from launch, Surveyor is
184.13 million kilometers from the Earth, 15.05 million kilometers from
Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a velocity of 21.87
kilometers per second. This orbit will intercept Mars 62 days from now,
slightly after 6:00 p.m. PDT on September 11th (01:00 UTC, September 12th).
The spacecraft is currently executing the C9 command sequence, and all
systems continue to be in excellent condition.
---------------------------------------
Status report prepared by:
Office of the Flight Operations Manager
Mars Surveyor Operations Project
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91109
---------------------------------------