Subject: Mars Polar Lander Mission Status - February 4, 2000
    Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 15:06:39 -0800 (PST)
    From:      baalke@jpl.nasa.gov 
    Reply-To:  mars98-owner@www.jpl.nasa.gov  


    MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
    JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
    CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
    PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
     JPL 

               Mars Polar Lander Mission Status
                       February 4, 2000

     Radio telescopes in The Netherlands, England and at Stanford
     University in California have begun listening for a possible
     signal from Mars Polar Lander today.

     The array of fourteen 25-meter (82-foot) antennas at
     Westerbork in The Netherlands as well as the 76-meter (about 250-
     foot) antenna at Jodrell Bank, near Manchester, England have
     three 30-minute listening opportunities today. The 45-meter (150-
     foot) antenna at Stanford University is also able to listen
     during these windows. An array located near Bologna, Italy is not
     being used today.

     Mission managers for Polar Lander say it will take each of
     the stations some time to review their data. "We want to make
     sure we have checked and double-checked these data before we can
     confirm whether or not there is a signal," said Richard Cook,
     project manager for Mars Polar Lander at NASA's Jet Propulsion
     Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.  "I don't think we'll know anything
     either way until sometime next week."

     Mars Polar Lander is managed by the Jet Propulsion
     Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.
     Lockheed Martin Astronautics Inc., Denver, Colo., is the agency's
     industrial partner for development and operation of the
     spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
     Technology in Pasadena.

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