baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (11/07/90)
MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
November 6, 1990
The Magellan spacecraft is in good health as it exits the Superior
Conjunction phase. At the Go/No Go meeting yesterday it was decided to resume
mapping at the earliest opportunity. The command sequence will be sent to the
spacecraft late today and will start execution at 4:20 AM (PST) tomorrow
morning with orbit #765.
Several attempts were required this morning to upload a series of
commands which reconfigure the spacecraft for mapping. This is believed to be
a Superior Conjunction effect because the Sun-Earth-Magellan angle is only 1.4
degrees.
Good downlink communications have been maintained partially because the
DSN (Deep Space Network) can broaden the bandwidth of the receiver, but the
spacecraft does not have similar adjustments to its command receiver to improve
the uplink. The radar sensor remains in excellent condition and ready for
mapping.
Nine standard and seven special image swaths were produced by the SAR
(Synthetic Aperture Radar) Data Processor. The special image swaths involved
reprocessing of the polar area from early orbits to obtain the improved quality
made possible by the recent change to the topographic model used by the
processor.
___ _____ ___
/_ /| /____/ \ /_ /|
| | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov
___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov
/___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 |
|_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 |