Mars Global Surveyor Status
All activities of the Mars Global
Surveyor (MGS) project are moving along well toward launch in early
November.
The spacecraft assembly is nearly complete at the Lockheed Martin facility
in Denver, Colorado, and has the spacecraft has begun its first fully integrated
system electrical testing. All but two of the science instruments have been
installed, and the remaining ones are due in May.
Mars Global Surveyor High Gain Antenna being assembled at Lockheed Martin
in Denver, CO
As is the case with many spacecraft, the mass of the assembled hardware
always seems to be a little more than is predicted by the design documents.
Such is the case with the MGS spacecraft. A considerable effort has been
applied by the project team over the last few months to reduce the spacecraft
mass and to find ways to change to mission plan to be able to accept a little
heavier spacecraft and still be able to meet mission objectives. After all
the studies were complete, and the mass of the all the spacecraft assemblies
had been reassessed, we agreed on a 1060-kg upper limit total launch mass
and slipped the opening of the launch period on day to open on November
6th. Some of the spacecraft's thermal blankets are the only remaining items
yet to be weighed, but all indications are good that the mass limit will
be met.
The end-to-end tests that assure compatibility between the flight operations
system (which will be responsible for "flying" or controlling
the spacecraft after launch) and the spacecraft itself are now underway,
and the results are looking good.
The two remaining science instruments, the Thermal Emission
Spectrometer and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, suffered minor setbacks
during their final acceptance testing, and both required some reworking
before final testing and delivery. The required rework is underway and is
progressing well.
--Glenn E. Cunningham