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Mars Pathfinder Update - July 24, 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 24, 1997
                       2:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time

     All communications sessions between the Pathfinder lander and rover
were successfully completed today, one day short of the mission's three-week
anniversary on the surface of Mars.

     Sol 20 began when the Earth rose over Mars' horizon at 10:30 p.m.
Pacific Daylight Time last night (July 23), enabling the flight team to
initiate communications with the spacecraft. The Sun later rose at 1:15 a.m.
PDT this morning, supplying the lander and rover with the energy needed to
carry out specific tasks.

     Communications were carried out using the 70-meter (230-foot)
antenna of NASA's Deep Space Network facility in Madrid, Spain. Forty-seven
megabits of data during two downlink sessions were returned on Sol 20.

     The data indicated that both the lander and rover remain in excellent
health and are continuing to operate masterfully. Flight Director Dave Gruel
reported that no further flight software resets have occurred since the team
sent modified flight software three sols, or days, ago.

     Today's data included numerous images taken for ongoing science
experiments. The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) also completed another
section of the 12-color super panorama image of the landing site, then
imaged the rover to add to an ongoing "rover movie" that is being assembled.
IMP took a final, end-of- the-day photo of Sojourner following completion of
its activities.

     Sojourner traveled a total of 7/10ths of a meter (2.3 feet) today and
performed another soil mechanics experiment that involved staging a
"wheely." The last of its activities was to lower the alpha proton X-ray
spectrometer onto the soil near the rock named Lamb. Presently, because it
is night on Mars, the rover is powered down and using only its battery to
operate the spectrometer and gather data on the Martian soil near Lamb. That
data will be transmitted to Earth via the lander during the next Martian
day, Sol 21, which begins when Earth rises over Mars tonight at 8:48 p.m.
PDT.

     Activities for Sol 21 will include another rover soil mechanics test,
some more autonomous driving and repositioning of Sojourner's spectrometer
against the side of Lamb in preparation for data-gathering the following
night.

     The lander's meteorological experiment reported highs today of minus
2 degrees Celsius (28 degrees Fahrenheit) and morning low temperatures of
minus 73 degrees Celsius (minus 99 degrees Fahrenheit). The weather
detectors also recorded large fluctuations of 3/10ths millibars in total
pressure on the surface of Mars.

     On this Martian day, Sol 20, the Earth set at 11:45 a.m. PDT, ending
spacecraft communications with Earth for the day. The Sun set at 1 p.m. PDT.

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