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1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT
June 19, 1998

John McNamee
Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager

Orbiter integration and test activities are proceeding on schedule. Root cause of all the various Pressure Modulator InfraRed Radiometer anomalies except the optical chopper failure have been determined and fixes verified; none of which require a return to the thermal vacuum chamber for test and verification. The chopper was removed from the instrument and returned to Honeywell on June 16 as planned for troubleshooting.

Thermal modifications to the lander to implement the passive thermal control approach are in progress and on schedule to support the planned July 18 landed thermal balance test.

Two temperature sensors and a wind sensor were damaged on the lander meteorology experiment during integration and test activities. The sensors are inherently fragile and covers designed to protect them have the unfortunate characteristic of being difficult to remove without damage to the sensor they were designed to protect. The Project is assessing various options including: 1) doing nothing and accepting the science loss (if any), 2) repairing the sensors with the meteorology mast installed on the lander, and 3) removing the meteorology mast for sensor repair at JPL.

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