MER 2003/Athena Update Week Ending September 13, 2003

We’re into our next Operational Readiness Test now, and this one’s
really different. In the last one, we were practicing the process of
driving and doing science on the martian surface. In this one, we’re
focusing on landing the spacecraft and getting the rover off the
lander. As I write this, on the morning of Tuesday the 16th, we’re
about to make decisions on whether or not to do some final
trajectory correction maneuvers, or TCMs. A TCM is a maneuver you do
with a spacecraft’s propulsion system to nudge it a little bit
closer to your intended landing site. In this test, we’re simulating
the landing of Spirit in Gusev crater, and the "landing" itself is
planned for Friday evening. Between now and then is the TCM, and if
we decide to do it, it’ll happen late tomorrow night. This is all
starting to feel very real…