Mars Exploration Rover Mission Status - January 23, 2004

Guy Webster (818) 354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Donald Savage (202) 358-1547
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

News Release: 2004-29 January 23, 2004

Mars Exploration Rover Mission Status

NASA's Spirit rover communicated with Earth in a signal detected
by NASA's Deep Space Network antenna complex near Madrid, Spain,
at 12:34 Universal Time (4:34 a.m. PST) this morning.

The transmissions came during a communication window about 90
minutes after Spirit woke up for the morning on Mars. The
signal lasted for 10 minutes at a data rate of 10 bits per
second.

Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., plan to send commands to Spirit seeking
additional data from the spacecraft during the subsequent few
hours.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's
Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Additional
information about the project is available from JPL at

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov


from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at

http://athena.cornell.edu/ .

-end-
--------------------------------------------------------------



MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster (818) 354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Donald Savage (202) 358-1547
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

News Release: 2004-30 January 23, 2004, 6:30 am PST

Updated Mars Exploration Rover Mission Status

The flight team for NASA's Spirit received data from the rover
in a communication session that began at 13:26 Universal Time
(5:26 a.m. PST) and lasted 20 minutes at a data rate of 120 bits
per second.

"The spacecraft sent limted data in a proper response to a
ground command, and we're planning for commanding further
communication sessions later today," said Mars Exploration Rover
Project Manager Pete Theisinger at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The flight team at JPL had sent a command to Spirit at 13:02
Universal Time (5:02 PST) via the NASA Deep Space Network
antenna complex near Madrid, Spain, telling Spirit to begin
transmitting.

Meanwhile, the other Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity is on
course to land halfway around Mars from Spirit, in a region
called Meridiani Planum, on Jan. 25 (Universal Time and EST;
Jan. 24 at 9:05 p.m. PST).

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for
NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.
Additional information about the project is available from
JPL at

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov

and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at

http://athena.cornell.edu/ .

-end-

Yahoooooo!!!!!!!

Let's hope for the best in the next round of communications.


--
- Alan Kilian alank(at)timelogic.com
Director of Bioinformatics, TimeLogic Corporation 763-449-7622

"Alan Kilian" wrote in message news:6rcQb.130001$I06.1123215@attbi_s01...

Yahoooooo!!!!!!!

Let's hope for the best in the next round of communications.

Here's hoping. But the news release was carefully worded, it sounds
like an attempt by NASA to put the best face on a bad situation. A
rover that just sits there and is only able to say "Hi, I'm here" is hardly
useful for anything.

Rick

"Rick" wrote in message
...
"Alan Kilian" wrote in message
news:6rcQb.130001$I06.1123215@attbi_s01...

Yahoooooo!!!!!!!

Let's hope for the best in the next round of communications.

Here's hoping. But the news release was carefully worded, it sounds
like an attempt by NASA to put the best face on a bad situation. A
rover that just sits there and is only able to say "Hi, I'm here" is
hardly
useful for anything.

Rick



Well, here is hoping. Although it may or may not be bad, a rover that is
saying "hi, I am here" is a lot better than one that is saying: " ".

Spirit transmitted for 20 minutes at 120 bps, or a dump of 17 to 18
kilobytes.

--
Michael Anthony

"Rick" wrote in message
...
"Alan Kilian" wrote in message
news:6rcQb.130001$I06.1123215@attbi_s01...

Yahoooooo!!!!!!!

Let's hope for the best in the next round of communications.

Here's hoping. But the news release was carefully worded, it sounds
like an attempt by NASA to put the best face on a bad situation. A
rover that just sits there and is only able to say "Hi, I'm here" is
hardly
useful for anything.

Rick



I read somewhere that it's continually re-booting itself; 60 (? 40) time so
far.

If anyone can fix it these men and women can.

--
-Randy (OF+)
'Up the stairs.
Into the fire.'

"RandyW" wrote in message news:uogQb.235$Qy4.34226@typhoon01...

"Rick" wrote in message
...
"Alan Kilian" wrote in message
news:6rcQb.130001$I06.1123215@attbi_s01...

Yahoooooo!!!!!!!

Let's hope for the best in the next round of communications.

Here's hoping. But the news release was carefully worded, it sounds
like an attempt by NASA to put the best face on a bad situation. A
rover that just sits there and is only able to say "Hi, I'm here" is
hardly
useful for anything.

I read somewhere that it's continually re-booting itself; 60 (? 40) time so
far.

Oh dear God, I hope they didn't try applying Service Pack 4..

Rick

I wonder when they'll actually send a lander to someplace that is interesting?
Gosh, I have to choose between sending a lander 240million miles to land in
a desert where I'm pretty sure nothing is living OR I can send it to one of
the polar icecaps that advance and retreat and where unusual activities
may exist... Hmm, yup, lets be safe and send it to the desert.

Of course I haven't a clue why they continue to send robots to the least
interesting parts of Mars, just a frustrated watcher.

IMO,
DLC
--
================================================== ==========================
* Dennis Clark www.techtoystoday.com *
* "Programming and Customizing the OOPic Microcontroller" Mcgraw-Hill 2003 *
================================================== ==========================

Dennis Clark wrote:

I wonder when they'll actually send a lander to someplace that is interesting?
Gosh, I have to choose between sending a lander 240million miles to land in
a desert where I'm pretty sure nothing is living OR I can send it to one of
the polar icecaps that advance and retreat and where unusual activities
may exist... Hmm, yup, lets be safe and send it to the desert.

Of course I haven't a clue why they continue to send robots to the least
interesting parts of Mars, just a frustrated watcher.

IMO,
DLC
--
================================================== ==========================
* Dennis Clark www.techtoystoday.com *
* "Programming and Customizing the OOPic Microcontroller" Mcgraw-Hill 2003 *
================================================== ==========================

Dennis,

There are a number of factors that influence the landing site (in addition to
where the best science data can be obtained) such as: the ruggedness of the
terrain (and the corresponding survivability chance of the lander and rover), the
amount and hours of sunlight, the amount and hours of view of the Earth for
communications, the geometry of over flying orbiters for relay communications, the
extremes of temperature during days and nights, etc. A lot of it is comes down to
budget constraints. With enough money, most any of the constraints can be
overcome but sadly that is not reality. A lot of effort goes into site selection
and it is a constant battle between the science team and the engineering team but
they usually make a reasonable compromise. There is still a lot of valuable data
to be gained from almost any location on an alien world but as we gain experience,
we will set out on bolder challenges.
Of course we did try an ambitious polar lander in 1999 but it was lost upon
arrival at Mars.
Hopefully we will again.

Jerry
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Jerry Petrey
-- Senior Principal Systems Engineer - Navigation (GPS/INS), Guidance, & Control
-- Raytheon Missile Systems - Member Team Ada & Team Forth
-- NOTE: please remove NOSPAM in email address to reply
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jerry Petrey wrote:
Of course we did try an ambitious polar lander in 1999 but it was lost upon
arrival at Mars.
Hopefully we will again.

I still think it is Martians causing our data loss. *|;-) (wink)
Jo
--
Geo Communications Services -- www.geocommunications.net
Jo Schaper's Missouri World -- http://www.missouriworld.net