MOLA collected its first data from Mars on September 15, 1997, during periapse 3 of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) capture orbit. The instrument performed flawlessly and sampled the Martian surface at a rate of 10 Hz for a total of 21 minutes as the spacecraft passed through altitudes less than 800 km. The success rate during ranging was greater than 99.8%. There were no missed shots, and only about 20 false detections. The performance exhibited by the instrument during our initial data collection run met or exceeded all instrument design specifications.

Eighteen more profiles were collected in the MGS aerobraking hiatus orbit from October 14 to November 6, 1997. The pulse repetition rate for all tracks received was at the 99% level, which exceeds design specification for our narrowest (highest signal/noise) channel at a constant altitude of 400 km. The shot-to-shot precision of the instrument is controlled by the timing resolution of the system oscillator and is ~40 cm. Absolute accuracy (knowledge of the elevation of a point on the surface with respect to Mars' center of mass) is limited by knowledge of the MGS orbit. Radial orbit errors are at the ~100 m level in the current elliptical configuration.

CHECK OUT THE DATA!!
• Pass 03 (Western Elysium) -- October 2 Press Conference
• Passes 22 and 31 (Amazonis) and 24 and 33 (Tharsis) -- November 10 Press Conference
• All Passes Collected So Far -- December 9 Presentation at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union