baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (12/13/90)
MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
December 12, 1990
The Magellan spacecraft is in good health and performing nominally. All
seven STARCALS (star calibrations) since yesterday were successful with
attitude updates averaging less than 0.01 degree.
The M0346 mapping command sequence and its associated parameter files was
sent to the spacecraft yesterday and is now executing. This 4-day sequence
provides a transition to the Occulted Mapping phase of the mission which
extends from December 14 until January 28. During this period Venus is
between the spacecraft's antenna and Earth for part of each orbit during the
downlink time. As a result, part of the mapping of each orbit will be missed.
This period was included in pre-launch planning. During this period, mapping
sequences will be sent to the spacecraft on Fridays.
The radar sensor continues its excellent performance, but analysis of the
radar data from orbits #1009 and 1010 verify that tape recorder tracks A1 and
A3 are exhibiting an exponential rate of deterioration. A technical
discussion of the tape recorder problem between engineers from JPL,
Martin-Marietta, and Odetics is scheduled for tomorrow.
Twelve new full-resolution image swaths were produced, including one
using an engineering version of the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) processing
software. This version compensates for a defect discovered in the radar data
of orbit #635. The SAR processor has completed processing of all available
experiment data records.
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/_ /| /____/ \ /_ /|
| | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov
___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov
/___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 |
|_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 |