mars observer update forwarded from the mars observer project mars observer status report april am pdt flight sequence c is active the spacecraft subsystems and instrument payload performing well in array normal spin and outer cruise configuration with uplink and downlink via the high gain antenna uplink at bps downlink at the k engineering data rate as a result of the spacecraft entering contingency mode on april all payload instruments were automatically powered off by on board fault protection software gamma ray spectrometer random access memory was successfully reloaded on monday april to prepare for magnetometer calibrations which were rescheduled for execution in flight sequence c on tuesday and wednesday of next week a reload of payload data system random access memory will take place this morning beginning at am over this weekend the flight team will send real time commands to perform differential one way ranging to obtain additional data for analysis by the navigation team radio science ultra stable oscillator testing will take place on monday the flight sequence c uplink will occur on sunday april with activation at midnight monday evening april c has been modified to include magnetometer calibrations which could not be performed in c due to contingency mode entry on april these magnetometer instrument calibrations will allow the instrument team to better characterize the spacecraft generated magnetic field and its effect on their instrument this information is critical to martian magnetic field measurements which occur during approach and mapping phases mag cals will require the sequence to command the spacecraft out of array normal spin state and perform slew and roll maneuvers to provide the mag team data points in varying spacecraft attitudes and orientations today the spacecraft is km mi from mars travelling at a velocity of kilometers second mph with respect to mars one way light time is approximately minutes seconds ron baalke baalke kelvin jpl nasa gov jet propulsion lab m s telos the aweto from new zealand pasadena ca is part caterpillar and part vegetable
