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I started working at JPL for Mars Pathfinder
on March 2, 1998 but the spacecraft hadn't been heard from since
Sept. 27, 1997. So was the mission actually over long before
I arrived? The Flight Team made
a final attempt to contact the Pathfinder Lander on March 10,
1998. Even though no signal was heard, I was there watching.
It was a lot of fun watching the team members joking and sharing
one last moment. But there was no answer so Pathfinder was declared
to be probably dead. I was happy to have been there, in any case! |
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For the first time in history the world
was able to see pictures returning from the surface of Mars via
the Internet. My job was to help Kirk
Goodall fix
up the Pathfinder
website by adding some artwork and
organizing it better. And the Mars Pathfinder Web Engineer was
Kirk
Goodall. |
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Around that time the mission had just
ended officially and scientists like Matt
Golombek, the Pathfinder project scientist,
were preparing to publish their findings. Pathfinder's landing
site in Ares Valles was quite intriguing and Matt deserves the
credit for choosing it. He wanted lots of rocks for the rover
to investigate. But no one really expected such dramatic scenery.
Soon after they saw the first pictures Matt was quoted as saying
"We deliver!" as as the whole team was probably applauding.
Well, I wasn't there so I don't know how it actually happened. |
Matt's office was practically next
to my cubicle, which was amazing since I had previously seen
quite a bit of him on TV and now I was working there alongside
him. Little did I know that it was only the beginning and that
I had better get used to being around so many of the world's
most accomplished planetary scientists and space mission engineers.
It was a very abrupt change from the life I had been leading! |
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In the Mars
Room, also known as the Sandbox |
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Working with Kirk Goodall
and the Mars Pathfinder project at JPL |
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Getting a closeup view of the Pathfinder engineering
models |
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The famous and
the not-so-famous! |
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Pathfinder team members
moving engineering model of lander out of the Sandbox. |
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