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Engineers Struggle to Regain Pathfinder Communications

Mission controllers at JPL are continuing to work to regain regular communications with the Mars Pathfinder lander, which has been silent save for a few brief signals since late September.
     Regular communications between Earth and the lander have not resumed since September 27. During that time brief signals were received on at least two occasions, leading officials to believe the battery on the lander had run out and the spacecraft was trying to rely solely on its solar panels.
     "The lander is not dead in any way, shape of form. There is nothing in the data to this point to indicate any degradation," project scientist Dr. Matthew Golombek said.
     Engineers believe that if the batteries are discharged, then the spacecraft would have lost power to its timer to let it known when to perform certain activities, like communications to the Earth. Since September 27 contact has been made with Pathfinder only twice: a brief signal received from its backup transmitter on October 1, and another set of signals October 7. No signals have been received since then.
     "Everything we have seen over the last 10 days is like a twisty little maze with passages all alike," said acting mission manager Jennifer Harris.
     There is no evidence of other problems with the spacecraft. JPL officials said the Sojourner rover is programmed to drive back to and circle the lander should contact be lost for at least five days, as is the current case, so it is within communications range of the lander.

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