This previous week was another quiet one for the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft as it continues toward an encounter with the red planet later this summer. On Monday, the flight team reactivated the spacecraft's payload data subsystem (PDS). This device is a control unit that collects data from the science instruments and then packages the data for transmission to Earth. After the reactivation, the flight team transmitted operational software to the PDS.

The flight team originally activated and transmitted software to the PDS about three weeks after launch. However, entry into safe-mode operations in early May automatically shut off the PDS for power conservation purposes. This week's reactivation will allow the flight team to continue calibration activities on the science instruments during the next two months.

After a mission elapsed time of 218 days from launch, Surveyor is 147.20 million kilometers from the Earth, 22.06 million kilometers from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a velocity of 22.38 kilometers per second. This orbit will intercept Mars 90 days from now, slightly after 6:00 p.m. PDT on September 11th (01:00 UTC, September 12th). All systems continue to be in excellent condition.

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Status report prepared by:

Office of the Flight Operations Manager
Mars Surveyor Operations Project
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91109
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