MARS PATHFINDER MISSION STATUS Sol 47 was a short down link day due to limited DSN availability. Today's down link was less than on hour at a slow 600 bits per second. We we able to confirm that the lander and rover are working fine after two days of not hearing from them. Although yesterday's silence was planned, the silence from Monday is still unexplained. Today's data may shed some light on the period of silence. Limited DSN availability forced us to take a break from operations. Very early on Saturday morning Sojourner will attempt to get closer to Shark for an APXS measurement. Shark will soon join Yogi and Barnacle Bill in the annals of rocks that have been analyzed for content by the Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer, or APXS. For further information on the Mars Pathfinder Mission, please call our Mission Status Report line at 1-800-391-6654. |
