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/ .

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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/ .

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