Day UTC EST
Friday 17:00 Noon Pre-landing press briefing
Friday 19:00 2:00 p.m. Live commentated coverage of landing activities
-22:00 -5:00 p.m.
Friday 22:00 5:00 p.m. Press briefing on first results from the landing
Friday/ 03:30 10:30 p.m. Live commentated coverage of landed activities
Saturday -07:00 -2:00 a.m.
Saturday 07:30 2:30 a.m. Press briefing with images and other data from the
extended transmission
First possible news about the lander ~3:39 p.m. EST
First possible news about the probes ~10:45 p.m. EST
Times starting Friday, 3 December 1999 in Earth Received Time (ERT). Light travel time is approximately 14 minutes. The spacecraft altitude and velocity relative to Mars are in parenthesis.
ERT ERT Time from
(UTC) (EST) Landing
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
08:00 3:00 a.m. -12 hrs End of final navigation tracking pass
11:00 6:00 a.m. - 9 hrs Command transmitted to spacecraft to
enable or disable Trajectory Correction
Maneuver 5 (TCM-5)
13:25 8:25 a.m. - 6 hrs 50 min TCM-5 burn begins (if enabled)
13:53 8:53 a.m. - 6 hrs 22 min TCM-5 Playback (if TCM-5 enabled)
14:39 9:39 a.m. - 5 hrs 36 min Turn spacecraft away from Earth for final
stellar data acquisiton, signal loss from
spacecraft
14:42 9:42 a.m. - 5 hrs 33 min Turn on heaters on descent engine
17:34 12:34 p.m. - 2 hrs 41 min Turn on heaters on decent camera (MARDI)
18:49 1:49 p.m. - 1 hr 26 min Turn spacecraft back to Earth point, acquire
spacecraft signal, acquire health & status
19:21 2:21 p.m. - 54 min Begin Entry, Descent, Landing sequence
19:26 2:26 p.m. - 49 min Pyros fire to pressurize helium tank
20:00 3:00 p.m. - 15 min Guidance system initialization
(2210 km, 6.2 km/s)
20:03 3:03 p.m. - 12 min Turn spacecraft to entry attitude, loss of
signal. Last signal until after landing.
(1426 km, 6.4 km/s)
20:05 3:05 p.m. - 10 min Cruise ring/Deep Space 2 probes separate
from lander
(959 km, 6.6 km/s)
20:10 3:10 p.m. - 5 min Atmospheric entry
(142 km, 6.9 km/s)
20:11 3:11 p.m. - 4 min Descent radar powered on
20:12 3:12 p.m. - 3 min MARDI instrument powered on
20:13 3:13 p.m. - 2 min 10 sec Parachute deployed
(9.0 km, 496 m/s)
20:13 3:13 p.m. - 2 min 03 sec Descent imaging begins, heatshield jettisoned
(8.0 km, 286 m/s)
20:13 3:13 p.m. - 1 min 30 sec Lander legs deployed, descent radar activated
20:14 3:14 p.m. - 53 sec Radar ground acquisition, altitude
(2.438 km, 80 m/s)
20:14 3:14 p.m. - 43 sec Lander separates from backshell, powered descent
begins
(1.628 km, 78 m/s)
20:14 3:14 p.m. - 40.4 sec Radar ground acquisition, speed & direction
(1.425 km, 82 m/s)
20:14 3:14 p.m. - 40 sec Gravity turn begins
(1.394 km, 83 m/s)
20:14 3:14 p.m. - 39 sec Roll to landed orientation
(1.307 km, 79 m/s)
20:14 3:14 p.m. - 11 sec Radar cutoff
(40 meters, 13 m/s)
20:15 3:15 p.m. - 7 sec Constant Velocity Phase
(12 meters, 2.4 m/s)
20:15 3:15 p.m. + 0 sec Touchdown. Mars Polar Lander has landed on Mars.
20:20 3:20 p.m. + 5 min Lander unfolds solar panels
20:23 3:23 p.m. + 8 min Medium gain antenna pointed at Earth
20:39 3:39 p.m. + 24 min Lander begins 1st transmission to Earth (45
minutes). Sends health & status, meteorology &
1 b/w image.
21:24 4:24 p.m. + 1 hr 09 min Lander ends transmission to Earth.
21:45 4:45 p.m. + 1 hr 30 min Lander powers down to sleep so it can recharge
22:10 5:10 p.m. + 1 hr 55 min Start of 1 hour backup downlink opportunity
(if spacecraft went into safemode during landing)
02:50 9:50 p.m. + 6 hrs 35 min Lander wakes up, receives instructions from Earth
03:25 10:25 p.m. + 7 hrs 10 min Begin DS2 microprobe data reception via Mars
Global Surveyor relay (15 minute transmission)
04:25 11:25 p.m. + 8 hrs 10 min 2.5 hour downlink begins, could include lander
and descent images
06:25 1:45 a.m. + 10 hrs 30 min Lander shuts itself down until next day.
End of Sol 0 activities.
Images and
Data from Mars Polar Lander
Images and Information on the Landing Site
Mars Polar Lander home page at NSSDCA
Deep Space 2 home page at NSSDCA
Mars Home Page