PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
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http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Mars Pathfinder Mission Status
July 9, 1997
3 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
Six days after landing in an ancient outflow channel called Ares Vallis, the Mars Pathfinder lander and rover continue to operate extremely well, returning unprecedented amounts of data during daily downlink sessions.

Yesterday, Pathfinder returned 85 megabits of data on the Martian atmosphere, weather, soil and a rock called "Barnacle Bill," the first rock on Mars ever to be studied up close and personal. Additional rover and lander imaging was also returned.

Tonight the operations team will perform a low-gain antenna session from 6:30 p.m.- 7 p.m. PDT to acquire data on the health of the lander and rover. A three-hour high-gain transmission will begin later this evening, at 10 p.m. - 1:30 a.m. PDT, at the higher data rate.

The rover has completed its soil analysis of the smooth, moat-like terrain around a large boulder named "Yogi." After completing the analysis, the rover retracted the alpha proton X- ray spectrometer, then conducted a wheel abrasion experiment in which it dug into the soil and disturbed the crusty material as it was turning its wheels. This soil abrasion test is one of many technology and mobility experiments planned for the rover to help engineers understand soil dynamics on the Martian surface for future generations of rovers.

"We used the rover as sort of a bulldozer to push this rock and crusty material up," said Dr. Matthew Golombek, Pathfinder project scientist at a 1 p.m. PDT press briefing. "Next the rover moved slightly to the left and imaged Yogi with its front cameras, then turned around and imaged the lander with its rear camera. After that, the rover will photograph Yogi at close range. That data will be returned tonight."

Further preliminary analysis of "Barnacle Bill" showed that its texture seems to be consistent with volcanic "andesites," the second most common volcanic rock on Earth, said Dr. Jeff Johnson, of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, AZ, who is on the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) camera team.

Scientists will use reflectance spectra collected by the lander and rover cameras to determine whether the rock, which measures about 40 centimeters (1.3 feet) across and 1.1 to 1.5 centimeters (8-to-10-inches) tall, is a sedimentary rock composed of many different rock fragments, or whether it is "homogenous," which would be consistent with scientists' first impression that it is a volcanic rock.

On a lighter note, Dr. Peter Smith, principal investigator of the IMP team, shared some of his personal insights on what it's like to be living on local Mars time, which means working on a 24-hour, 37-minute clock each day.

"When you say good morning, and the sun is setting, now that's living on Martian solar time…When your sunglasses start looking like this (holding up the red-and-blue stereo glasses used to view images in 3-D), that's living on Martian time…When you start admiring strange-looking rocks and giving them names, then telling your friends, that's living on Martian time…When your days are called Sols, and your nights are called days, that's living on Martian time…But when you start laughing at the engineers' jokes, you know you're living on Martian time."

Next on the rover's schedule of investigations are two rocks that appear white or very light in color: "Casper" and "Scooby Doo," located off to the left of the Pathfinder lander. Among the many images planned in the next week are shots of the Martian sunset and sunrise; pictures of the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos; and pictures of "Twin Peaks," two sloping hills that are about 800 meters (about half a mile) away from the landing site.

The next scheduled press briefing will be held at 12:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on July 10 in JPL's von Karman Auditorium.

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