Guy Webster (818) 354-0880<br />Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br /><br />Donald Savage (202) 358-1547<br />NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. <br /><br />News Release: 2003-085 June 12, 2003 <br /> <br />Mars Rover Spirit Mission Status<br /><br />NASA's Spirit spacecraft, the first of twin Mars Exploration Rovers,<br />has successfully reduced its spin rate as planned and switched to<br />celestial navigation using a star scanner. <br /><br />All systems on the spacecraft are in good health. As of 48 hours<br />after the June 10 launch, Spirit had traveled 5,630,000 kilometers<br />(3,500,000 miles) and was at a distance of 610,000 kilometers (380,000<br />miles) from Earth.<br /><br />After separation from the third stage of its Delta II launch vehicle<br />on Tuesday, Spirit was spinning 12.03 rotations per minute. Onboard<br />thrusters were used Wednesday to reduce the spin rate to approximately<br />2 rotations per minute, the designed rate for the cruise to Mars.<br />After the spinning slowed, Spirit's star scanner found stars that are<br />being used as reference points for spacecraft attitude.<br /><br />Navigators and other flight team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion<br />Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., will be deciding soon when to perform<br />the first of several trajectory-correction maneuvers planned during<br />the seven-month trip between Earth and Mars.<br /><br />Spirit will arrive at Mars on Jan. 4, 2004, Universal Time (evening of<br />Jan. 3, 2004, Eastern and Pacific times). The rover will examine its<br />landing area in Mars' Gusev Crater for geological evidence about the<br />history of water on Mars.<br /><br />JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the<br />Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science,<br />Washington, D.C. Additional information about the project is<br />available from JPL at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer and from Cornell<br />University, Ithaca, N.Y., at http://athena.cornell.edu<br />http://athena.cornell.edu/ .<br /><br /> -end-