
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 25, 1993                   TAG: 9308250193
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF.                                LENGTH: Medium

NASA NOT GIVING UP ON SILENT SPACECRAFT

NASA held onto hope in the face of possible disaster Tuesday, insisting Mars Observer may have started orbiting the planet, although there still was no word from the missing spacecraft.

"We presume the spacecraft is in orbit around Mars, but we have no positive indication of that," Glenn Cunningham, the $980 million mission's project manager, said during a news conference at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

He added: "I would like to believe the spacecraft is in orbit."

But with no radio signal from Mars Observer, engineers simply didn't know if it started circling Mars on schedule, flew past it, or was destroyed or disabled after engineers last heard from it Saturday.

Despite the official optimism, some scientists and engineers were gloomy, fearing they may never hear from Mars Observer.

"It's terrible, terrible, terrible," said Arden Albee, the project's chief scientist.

Asked what scientists were doing to relieve the tension, Cunningham replied: "Screaming loudly."

Launched Sept. 25, Mars Observer was to be the first U.S. robot explorer to reach the planet since Viking 1 and 2 in 1976.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineers will continue trying to restore communications on the assumption Mars Observer is in orbit, Cunningham said. "We're not giving up, and I need to emphasize that point strongly," he said earlier. "We are not giving up."

Engineers had insisted they were confident that the spacecraft - even if unheard from - would execute automatic computer commands, fire its thrusters at 1:24 p.m. PDT Tuesday, start orbiting Mars, then radio Earth.

The earliest possible signal was expected at 2:44 p.m. But that time passed and there was still no signal.

If the spacecraft hasn't received any of the commands sent to it in recent days, it should automatically start another computer program and try to contact Earth on Wednesday afternoon, Cunningham said.

by CNB