Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Spear, A..
In 1992, Dr. Wes Huntress challenged the JPL staff to undertake the first of NASA's new Discovery Program missions; Pathfinder.
On July 4th, 1997, Mars Pathfinder became the third spacecraft to successfully land on the planet Mars. The mission's primary objective was to demonstrate a low-cost system for delivering a small science payload to the surface of Mars, and to test the operation of a rover.
The Magellan Mission consists of a single spacecraft to be placed in an elliptical orbit around Venus. The main objective of the mission is to perform radar imaging, altimetry, and reflectivity of 90 percent of the planet for one Venusian year (243 days). A flight profile is given, and information is presented in tabular form on the following topics: Deep Space Network support, frequency assignments, telemetry, command, and tracking support responsibilities.