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JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
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Mars Pathfinder Mission Status
February 4, 1997

dot.gifAll spacecraft subsystems continue to operate well in the third month of Mars Pathfinder's cruise to the red planet. Currently the spacecraft is about 19 million kilometers (11 million miles) from Earth, traveling at a velocity of 30 kilometers per second (67,500 miles per hour) with respect to the Sun.

dot.gifPathfinder successfully completed the second of its trajectory corrections maneuvers at 5 p.m. Pacific time yesterday. This maneuver was designed to correct errors in the first trajectory correction maneuver performed on Jan. 9, and to move the spacecraft closer to its final flight path to Mars. Due to planetary quarantine requirements, the spacecraft will not be placed on a direct Mars atmospheric entry trajectory until it has completed its third trajectory correction maneuver, currently scheduled for May 5.

dot.gifFlight engineer Guy Beutelschies, who led yesterday's trajectory correction maneuver, developed a two-part approach to perform the maneuver. In the first part, the spacecraft fired its two forward-facing thrusters continuously for five minutes, changing the spacecraft's velocity by about 1.5 meters per second. The second part of the maneuver called for a smaller velocity correction of 0.1 meters per second. The spacecraft was instructed to fire all four of its thrusters on one side of the craft for five seconds to alter and fine-tune its direction. This same two-part maneuver will be used for all future trajectory modifications.

dot.gifUpon completing the maneuver, the flight team turned the spacecraft 15 degrees back toward Earth to improve radio navigation communications with the ground. Pathfinder is now pointed about 5 degrees from Earth and 2 degrees from the Sun and will remain in this orientation until late March. Spacecraft operations are expected to be relatively quiet for the next two to three months.

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