Mars Pathfinder
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Sol 81 (25 September 1997) Images

 

Roverdunes_glyph_sol76.gif
This stereo Sojourner rover image taken on Sol 76 shows foreground dunes and, on the horizon, the rim of "Big Crater" (left, 2.2 km away) and the "Twin Peaks" (right, about 1 km away). To see this image in 3-D, use glasses with a red left eye and blue right eye. 

 

Sol75_Npeak_glyph.gif
This stereo Sojourner rover image taken on Sol 75 shows foreground rocks and, on the horizon, "North Peak" (0.86 km away). To see this image in 3-D, use glasses with a red left eye and blue right eye. 

 

Shark_glyph.gif
The rock "Shark" is seen close-up in this stereo Sojourner rover image. To view this image in 3-D, use glasses with a red left eye and blue right eye. 

 

rover_sol80l.jpg

 

rover_sol80r_th.jpg
This stereo image pair taken on the morning of Sol 80 (September 23) shows the Sojourner rover with its Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) deployed against the rock "Chimp." On the left horizon is the rim of "Big Crater," 2.2 km away.

 

windsock_sol80.jpg
This set of images shows the Pathfinder upper wind sock during two time periods on the morning of Sol 80 (September 23). The interval between frames within each sequence is one second. There is no obvious movement of the sock, indicating little or no wind at this elevation (about 1 meter above the surface). At other times during the mission, deflections of this and two lower wind socks have been used to estimate characteristics of the wind speed boundary layer profile.


MARS PATHFINDER MISSION STATUS
24 September 1997, 11:30 p.m. PDT

The spacecraft woke up at 8pm tonight which is 5 hours after Earth rise on Mars and 2 hours after sunrise. All data from the spacecraft and rover indicate that they are both healthy. We've received about 2 megabits of data from the Canberra Australia Deep Space Network station today during our 1.5 hour downlink session.

We did not experience the problem seen for the last few days regarding the spacecraft signal strength. Although we are not completely certain, it is possible that this problem is due to an obscuration on the lander. At a certain time of day on Mars now, it appears as if the IMP camera is in the line-of-sight between the High Gain Antenna and the Earth. This is not a significent problem, because the geometry will be changing as the days progress.

The rover woke up today to the song, "Old Time Rock-N-Roll", played by Rover engineer, Howard Eisen. Howard and the rover are longing for the old times of the rolling of the Rover on the surface of Mars. Today the rover did not roll because of the completion of the images of the APXS on the rock, "Chimp". Tomorrow the rover will begin its journey toward Mermaid Dune.

Earth set on Mars will be at 4:15 AM and the Sun will set at 6:15 AM PDT on September 25. The spacecraft will sleep for nearly 16 hours tonight and will wake up tomorrow at around 8 PM PDT. We should receive data from the spacecraft tomorrow between 10 PM and 3:30 AM PDT.

For further information on the Mars Pathfinder Mission, please call our Mission Status Report line at 1-800-391-6654.

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