The spacecraft remains in good health and is currently
about 71 million kilometers from Earth. The only spacecraft activities performed
this week were a regular ASI/MET health check, a Heat Rejection System Pump B cycle, and
some modification to Attitude Control Subsystem fault protection parameters.
The total flight time since launch is now 128 days, and we have 85 days
until Mars arrival.
We successfully completed an operational readiness test of all activities
from Mars entry -2 days through Sol 2. This test was performed using the
Pathfinder Testbed and Mars Sandbox. The Mars approach phase included periodic
updates to the Entry, Descent, and Landing flight software parameter set and execution of a contingency
Trajectory Correction Maneuver #5. We are investigating a minor problem which occurred during
airbag retraction, which did not significantly effect the test. The surface
operations test included a planned failure of the High
Gain Antenna and subsequent Low Gain Antenna operations.
John Wellman and Matt Golombek attended a special Project Science Group
meeting at NASA Headquarters to discuss data rights issues and the role
of the participating scientists. A number of useful discussions were held
and a draft policy on these issues was developed.
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