MARS SURVEYOR 98 MISSION STATUSJune 10, 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) During the early morning all of the software updates and command sequences needed for the "All-Stellar" mode demonstration were transmitted to the spacecraft successfully (28 command files in all). The flight team will conduct the demonstration tomorrow afternoon (Fri. Jun. 11) during a tracking pass over Deep Space Station 65 at the Deep Space Network complex near Madrid, Spain. The Stanford University team which supported last month's UHF radio test, using the Unversity's 40 meter radio telescope near Palo Alto, California, has confirmed successful detection of the Mars Polar Lander acquisition signal transmitted during the test period. With this milestone complete, all of the objectives for this test have been achieved. Mars Polar Lander (MPL) The MPL spacecraft continues to perform well in cruise. On the ground, the flight team accomplished the first successful test run of a "proto-flight" version of the landing day, or Sol 0, command sequence in the MPL simulator. This test also marked the first successful system test in which the MCO simulator was simultaneously executing a proto-flight UHF contact sequence, with communication occurring between the UHF transceivers installed in each simulator. Once a target landing site is finalized later this summer, leading to determination of the exact time of landing, these proto-flight command sequences will be updated to flight status with the correct timing.
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