JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
NOTE TO EDITORS March 9, 1998
FLIGHT TEAM MAKES FINAL ATTEMPT TO CONTACT PATHFINDER LANDER
The Mars Pathfinder flight team will make its final attempt
to contact the spacecraft tomorrow using NASA's Deep Space
Network 34-meter antenna at Goldstone, CA.
Media are invited into the Pathfinder control room to view
the communications attempt and interview project representatives.
The tracking pass will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time and conclude
at 1:45 p.m.
Project representative Ben Toyashima will be the "ace," or
primary flight controller, listening for a signal from the
spacecraft. One-way light time from Earth to Mars is currently
19 minutes, 30 seconds, so a two-way signal could be received in
about 40 minutes. If no signal is detected within the first hour
of the pass, Toyashima will send a set of commands to activate
the spacecraft's thumbnail-size auxiliary transmitter, located on
the top of the lander's base petal. Although the flight team is
not optimistic that a signal will be received, they would see a
brief blip on the computer monitor if the spacecraft is still
operating.
Mars Pathfinder fell silent on Sept. 27, 1997, which was the
83rd day of surface operations, after having nearly tripled its
design lifetime of 30 days.
Media planning to attend the communications session are
asked to contact the JPL Media Relations Office at (818) 354-5011
to prearrange their visit.
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Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 20:12:24 GMT
From: Ron Baalke
Subject: [ASTRO] Mars Pathfinder Update - March 10, 1998
Mars Pathfinder Update
March 10, 1998
Today starting at 10:00 AM PST we will make our final attempt to contact Pathfinder.
10:15 AM - The high efficiency 34 meter Deep Space Network (DSN Station #15)
antenna located in Goldstone California is currently attempting to lock onto a carrier signal using a Block 5 receiver. Mars is currently 2.35
Astronomical Units (AU), or 351 million kilometers away from Earth. The one way light time is 19.8 minutes. The first command will be sent at 10:51 AM PST
10:39 AM - At 10:51 AM PST we will send a command to Pathfinder to activate an onboard sequence designed to turn on the primary Pathfinder transmitter.
Since the one way light time is 19.8 minutes, we will have to wait for approximately 40 minutes before we can expect a response from Pathfinder, assuming the command was received and the sequence activated.
10:53 AM - The command to activate the onboard sequence is now being radiated to Pathfinder.
11:22 AM - We are now waiting to receive the signal. Mars is currently 49.2 degrees above the horizon at the Goldstone DSN station located in the Mojave desert in southern California.
11:35 AM - We should have heard the signal by now, but we have not. We will sweep for the carrier for 50 minutes.
#####
MEDIA RELATIONS 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
Tuesday, March 10, 1998
The long goodbye to NASA's Mars Pathfinder lander and the Soujourner rover ended today when the lander failed to respond to the final command to communicate with controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Pathfinder mission, which operated three times longer than its original
30-day planned lifetime on the martian surface, is acknowledged as one of NASA's most successful endeavors as a dramatic example of the space agency's new style of "faster, better, cheaper" planetary exploration.
Today's last-ditch effort to listen for a signal from Pathfinder
effectively ends the mission, said project manager Brian Muirhead. No further attempts will be made to communicate with Pathfinder, he added.
Pathfinder flight controllers Ben Toyoshima and Rob Smith at JPL
spent nearly four hours today alternately commanding the lander to turn on its transmitter, then listening for a response via NASA's Deep Space Network's 34-meter antenna at Goldstone, California, in the Mojave Desert.
One-way radio communications to Mars from Earth take nearly 20 minutes.
The final Pathfinder telecommunications session ended at 1:21 p.m.
PST when no transmissions had been detected from Pathfinder.
A description of today's efforts to reestablish contact with
Pathfinder can bee found at the following URL:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/readme.html
#####
