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Mars Polar Lander Timeline For December 3 Landing

Hi,

We're landing on Mars again this Friday. j

The Mars Polar Lander and the Deep Space 2 microprobes will be landing on Mars 
at 12:15 PST on December 3, and we expect the first signal from the 
Mars Polar Lander at 12:39 PST.  Coverage of the landing
will be available on NASA TV (http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/) from 11 AM PST
to 2PM PST (PST = UTC - 8 hours).  We will also have a live WebCam setup
in the Mars Mission Support Area at JPL which will feature a 
360-degree view of the room (not yet active, but keep checking
http://marslander.jpl.nasa.gov for its availability).  There are also 
three press conferences scheduled on December 3, which will also air 
on NASA TV:

 9:00 AM PST: News briefing with short daily status, preview of day's 
              events.  This will also report on the optional 
              trajectory correction maneuver #5, which would have 
              been executed earlier in the day.

 2:00 PM PST: News briefing with the first results from the landing.

11:30 PM PST: News briefing with pictures and other data from the 
              lander's evening transmission; initial results from
              Deep Space 2.

Below is a timeline of the spacecraft events on landing day.

Ron Baalke
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MARS POLAR LANDER TIMETABLE 

All times are for December 3, 1999 and are in Earth Receive Time (ERT).  The
spacecraft altitude and velocity relative to Mars are in parenthesis. 

 ERT    ERT    Time from    
(UTC)  (PST)   Landing               Activity
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
08:00  00:00  -12 hrs         End of final navigation tracking pass
11:00  03:00  - 9 hrs         Command transmitted to spacecraft to 
                              enable or disable Trajectory Correction
                              Maneuver 5 (TCM-5)
13:25  05:25  - 6 hrs 50 min  TCM-5 burn begins (if enabled)
13:53  05:53  - 6 hrs 22 min  TCM-5 Playback (if TCM-5 enabled)
14:39  06:39  - 5 hrs 36 min  Turn spacecraft away from Earth for final 
                              stellar data acquisiton, signal loss from 
                              spacecraft
14:42  06:42  - 5 hrs 33 min  Turn on heaters on descent engine
17:34  09:34  - 2 hrs 41 min  Turn on heaters on decent camera (MARDI)
18:49  10:49  - 1 hr  26 min  Turn spacecraft back to Earth point, acquire
                              spacecraft signal, acquire health & status
19:21  11:21  - 54 min        Begin Entry, Descent, Landing sequence
19:26  11:26  - 49 min        Pyros fire to pressurize helium tank
20:00  12:00  - 15 min        Guidance system initialization
                              (2210 km, 6.2 km/s)
20:03  12:03  - 12 min        Turn spacecraft to entry attitude, loss of
                              signal.  We won't hear from the spacecraft
                              again until after landing.
                              (1426 km, 6.4 km/s)
20:05  12:05  - 10 min        Cruise ring/Deep Space 2 probes separate 
                              from lander
                              (959 km, 6.6 km/s)
20:10  12:10  - 5 min         Atmospheric entry
                              (142 km, 6.9 km/s)
20:11  12:11  - 4 min         Descent radar powered on
20:12  12:12  - 3 min         MARDI instrument powered on
20:13  12:13  - 2 min 10 sec  Parachute deployed
                              (9.0 km, 496 m/s)
20:13  12:13  - 2 min 03 sec  Descent imaging begins, heatshield jettisoned
                              (8.0 km, 286 m/s)
20:13  12:13  - 1 min 30 sec  Lander legs deployed, descent radar activated
20:14  12:14  - 53 sec        Radar ground acquisition, altitude
                              (2.438 km, 80 m/s)
20:14  12:14  - 43 sec        Lander separates from backshell, powered descent
                              begins
                              (1.628 km, 78 m/s)
20:14  12:14  - 40.4 sec      Radar ground acquisition, speed & direction
                              (1.425 km, 82 m/s)
20:14  12:14  - 40 sec        Gravity turn begins
                              (1.394 km, 83 m/s)
20:14  12:14  - 39 sec        Roll to landed orientation
                              (1.307 km, 79 m/s)
20:14  12:14  - 11 sec        Radar cutoff
                              (40 meters, 13 m/s)
20:15  12:15  -  7 sec        Constant Velocity Phase
                              (12 meters, 2.4 m/s)
20:15  12:15  + 0 sec         Touchdown.  Mars Polar Lander has landed on Mars.
20:20  12:20  + 5 min         Lander unfolds solar panels
20:23  12:23  + 8 min         Medium gain antenna pointed at Earth
20:39  12:39  + 24 min        Lander begins 1st transmission to Earth (45
                              minutes). Sends health & status, meteorology & 
                              1 b/w image.
21:24  13:24  + 1 hr 09 min   Lander ends transmission to Earth.
21:45  13:45  + 1 hr 30 min   Lander powers down to sleep so it can recharge
22:10  14:10  + 1 hr 55 min   Start of 1 hour backup downlink opportunity
                              (if spacecraft went into safemode during landing) 
02:50  18:50  + 6 hrs 35 min  Lander wakes up, receives instructions from Earth
03:25  19:25  + 7 hrs 10 min  Begin DS2 microprobe data reception via Mars
                              Global Surveyor relay (15 minute transmission)            
04:25  20:25  + 8 hrs 10 min  2.5 hour downlink begins, could include lander
                              and descent images
06:25  22:45  + 10 hrs 30 min Lander shuts itself down until next day.
                              End of Sol 0 activities.

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