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Mars Surveyor 98 Update - January 30, 1998

 
                  1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT
                            WEEK ENDING 01/30/98

                                John McNamee
                      Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager

Orbiter and lander integration and test activities are proceeding on
schedule with no significant problems. The lander component deck was
inserted into the lander body on 1/23. The Mars Volatile and Climate
Surveyor (MVACS) payload integrati on on the lander spacecraft is in
progress. The flight Robotic Arm (RA), Meteorology package (MET), and
Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) are installed on the lander deck and functional
tests are in progress. The orbiter Command and Data Handling (C&DH)
subsystem and Power Distribution and Drive Unit (PDDU) were upgraded to
flight status (i.e., upgrade of ATLO Test Unit cards with flight parts) and
will be re-installed on the orbiter on 2/2.


The Mars Surveyor '98 program is the next generation of
spacecraft to be sent to Mars. Consisting of an orbiter
and lander launched separately on Med-Lite launch vehicles
(Delta 7425 configuration), the Mars '98 mission will add
to the knowlege gained by the Mars Global Surveyor and
Mars Pathfinder missions. The general science theme for
the 1998 Surveyor misions is "Volatiles and Climate
History." The Mars 98 orbiter will launch in December 1998
and arrive at Mars 10 months later. Upon arrival at Mars,
the spacecraft will use a series of aerobraking maneuvers
to achieve a stable orbit, and then use atmospheric
instruments and cameras to provide detailed information
about the surface and climate of Mars. The Mars 98 lander
will launch a month after the orbiter and will land near
the southern polar cap on Mars. The lander is equipped
with cameras, a robotics arms and instruments to measure
the Martian soil composition. Two small microprobes are
also piggybacking on the lander, which will penetrate into
the Martian subsurface to detect water ice.

For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 program,
please visit the Mars Surveyor 98 home page:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/