Lunar Prospector Status Report #72

March 5, 1999 - 1:00 p.m. EST (10:00 a.m. PST)

The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is operating well and collecting good science data in the extended mission orbit. Four of five science instruments are on: the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), the Neutron Spectrometer (NS), the Magnetometer (MAG) and the Electron Reflectometer (ER). Data continues to be collected for the Doppler Gravity Experiment (DGE) as well.

Cycling of the spacecraft transmitter continues. There was one instance were the transmitter on commands were delayed due to station configuration problems and 4 minutes of data were lost (DOY 059).

On DOY 061, two commands were sent to reset the gain of the GRS instrument. On DOY 062, 87 commands were sent to reload part of the ER instrument memory to improve data return in the low altitude orbit.

Current spacecraft state (0000 GMT 3/5/99):

Orbit: 5138
Downlink: 3600 bps
Spin Rate: 12.00 rpm

Spin Axis Attitude (ecliptic):
Latitude: -89.2 deg
Longitude: 337.5 deg

Trajectory:
Periapsis Alt: 27.4 km
Apoapsis Alt: 32.6 km
Period: 111 min

Occultations: 49 minutes
Eclipses: 48 minutes
Propellant Remaining: 14.78 kg