The Mars Polar Lander and the Deep Space 2 microprobes will be landing on Mars at 12:15 PST on December 3, and we expect the first signal from the Mars Polar Lander at 12:39 PST. Coverage of the landing will be available on NASA TV (http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/) from 11 AM PST to 2PM PST (PST = UTC - 8 hours). We will also have a live WebCam setup in the Mars Mission Support Area at JPL which will feature a 360-degree view of the room (not yet active, but keep checking http://marslander.jpl.nasa.gov for its availability). There are also three press conferences scheduled on December 3, which will also air on NASA TV:
9:00 AM PST: News briefing with short daily status, preview of day's events. This will also report on the optional trajectory correction maneuver #5, which would have been executed earlier in the day. 2:00 PM PST: News briefing with the first results from the landing. 11:30 PM PST: News briefing with pictures and other data from the lander's evening transmission; initial results from Deep Space 2.Below is a timeline of the spacecraft events on landing day.
All times are for December 3, 1999 and are in Earth Receive Time (ERT). The spacecraft altitude and velocity relative to Mars are provided in parenthesis.
|
ERT (UTC) |
ERT (PST) |
Time From Landing |
Activity |
| 08:00 | 00:00 | -12 hours | End of final navigation tracking pass |
| 11:00 | 03:00 | -9 hours | Command transmitted to spacecraft to enable or disable Trajectory Correction Maneuver 5 (TCM-5) |
| 13:25 | 05:25 | -6 hours 50 min | TCM-5 burn begins (if enabled) |
| 13:53 | 05:53 | -6 hours 22 min | TCM-5 Playback (if TCM-5 enabled) |
| 14:39 | 06:39 | -5 hours 36 min | Turn spacecraft away from Earth for final stellar data acquisiton, signal loss from spacecraft. |
| 14:42 | 06:42 | - 5 hours 33 min | Turn on heaters on descent engine |
| 17:34 | 09:34 | -2 hours 41 min | Turn on heaters on descent camera (MARDI) |
| 18:49 | 10:49 | -1 hour 26 min | Turn spacecraft back to Earth point, acquire spacecraft signal, acquire health & status |
| 19:21 | 11:21 | -54 min | Begin Entry, Descent, Landing sequence |
| 19:26 | 11:26 | -49 min | Pyros fire to pressurize helium tank |
| 20:00 | 12:00 | -15 min |
Guidance system initialization (2210 km, 6.2 km/s) |
| 20:03 | 12:03 | -12 min |
Turn spacecraft to entry attitude, loss of
signal. We won't hear from the spacecraft
again until after landing. (1426 km, 6.4 km/s) |
| 20:05 | 12:05 | -10 min |
Cruise ring/Deep Space 2 probes separate
from lander
(959 km, 6.6 km/s) |
| 20:10 | 12:10 | -5 min |
Atmospheric entry
(142 km, 6.9 km/s) |
| 20:11 | 12:11 | -4 min | Descent radar powered on |
| 20:12 | 12:12 | -3 min | MARDI instrument powered on |
| 20:13 | 12:13 | -2 min 10 sec |
Parachute deployed (9.0 km, 496 m/s) |
| 20:13 | 12:13 | -2 min 03 sec |
Descent imaging begins, heatshield jettisoned (8.0 km, 286 m/s) |
| 20:13 | 12:13 | -1 min 30 sec | Lander legs deployed, descent radar activated |
| 20:14 | 12:14 | -53 sec |
Radar ground acquisition, altitude (2.438 km, 80 m/s) |
| 20:14 | 12:14 | -43 sec |
Lander separates from backshell, powered descent
begins (1.628 km, 78 m/s) |
| 20:14 | 12:14 | -40.4 sec |
Radar ground acquisition, speed & direction (1.425 km, 82 m/s) |
| 20:14 | 12:14 | -40 sec |
Gravity turn begins (1.394 km, 83 m/s) |
| 20:14 | 12:14 | -39 sec |
Roll to landed orientation (1.307 km, 79 m/s) |
| 20:14 | 12:14 | -11 sec |
Radar cutoff (40 meters, 13 m/s) |
| 20:15 | 12:15 | -7 sec |
Constant Velocity Phase (12 meters, 2.4 m/s) |
| 20:15 | 12:15 | +0 | Touchdown. Mars Polar Lander has landed on Mars. |
| 20:20 | 12:20 | +5 min | Lander unfolds solar panels |
| 20:20 | 12:20 | +8 min | Medium gain antenna pointed at Earth |
| 20:39 | 12:39 | +24 min | Lander begins 1st transmission to Earth (45 minutes). Sends health & status, meteorology & 1 b/w image |
| 21:24 | 13:24 | +1 hour 09 min | Lander ends transmission to Earth |
| 21:45 | 13:45 | +1 hour 30 min | Lander powers down to sleep so it can recharge |
| 22:10 | 14:10 | +1 hour 55 min | Start of 1 hour backup downlink opportunity (if spacecraft went into safemode during landing) |
|
Dec 4 02:50 |
18:50 | +6 hours 35 min | Lander wakes up, receives instructions from Earth |
|
Dec 4 03:25 |
19:25 | +7 hours 10 min | Begin DS2 microprobe data reception via Mars Global Surveyor relay (15 minute transmission) |
|
Dec 4 04:25 |
20:25 | +8 hours 10 min | 2.5 hour downlink begins, could include lander and descent images |
|
Dec 4 06:25 |
22:45 | +10 hours 30 min | Lander shuts itself down until next day. End of Sol 0 activities. |
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