[meteorite-list] Spirit's High-Gain Antenna Successfully Deployed

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:58 2004
Message-ID: <200401050631.WAA17802_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040104sol2.html

Spirit's high-gain antenna successfully deployed
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
January 5, 2004

In another major milestone, the Spirit Mars rover's high-gain antenna was
successfully deployed Sunday night and aimed at Earth. A few minutes before
12:30 a.m. EST today, the first direct-to-Earth communications session over
the high-data-rate antenna began, prompting a now-familiar round of cheers
and applause in mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif.

The X-band antenna is critical for Spirit's mission. Flight controllers plan to
beam commands directly to the high-gain antenna every morning to tell the
rover what to do. Science data from the rover can be beamed back through the
high-gain or through NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey
orbiters.

During the first communications session early today, engineers successfully
established a two-way link, uplinking commands and downlinking science data,
including more pictures that were stored in the rover's computer. A so-called
"postcard" from Mars, a seven-frame color mosaic taken by Spirit's panoramic
camera was expected to be downlinked later in the evening. If all goes well, the
picture will be released during a news briefing at noon.

In the meantime, more low-resolution black-and-white Navcam images were
downlinked, a series of pictures that will be stitched together into a panorama
to help engineers judge how Spirit's mostly collapsed landing airbags change
shape as daily heating and cooling affects trapped gases. Engineers are trying
to determine what, if anything, needs to be done to further retract sections of
partially inflated airbags that might block one or more of Spirits possible exit
routes off the lander.
Received on Mon 05 Jan 2004 01:31:31 AM PST