🚀 go-pugleaf

Forwarded from:
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011

                  MARS OBSERVER MISSION STATUS
                        January 25, 1993

     The Mars Observer spacecraft team reports that all
spacecraft and science operations are performing well.

     The Mars Observer camera, magnetometer/electron
reflectometer and gamma ray spectrometer were turned on Jan. 18
for instrument calibration activities, and began returning data
the following day.  The camera focus tests were completed at noon
today, while data-gathering by the two other instruments
continues this week.

     Data from the magnetometer recorded near the Earth's geotail
-- that region of space in which the solar wind is blocked as the
Earth orbits the sun -- will be played back from tape recorders 1
and 3 on Jan. 26 and 27.  Meanwhile, a telecommunications
experiment, called the "Ka Band Link Experiment," is being
performed to test the quality of ground-to-spacecraft
communications using a very short, 9-millimeter (36/100ths of an
inch) wavelength and a low-power transmitter on board the
spacecraft.  All other uplink and downlink activities are now
performed using the spacecraft's high-gain antenna.

     Today the spacecraft is about 64 million kilometers (40
million miles) from Earth, traveling at a speed of about 47,000
kilometers per hour (31,000 miles per hour) with respect to
Earth.  The spacecraft is traveling at a heliocentric velocity of
about 93,500 kilometers per hour (58,000 miles per hour).  One-
way light time is roughly 195 seconds.

                             #####
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Every once in a while,
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | try pushing your luck.
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     |