Tim McCollum and class:

It was great to see your class members on the web page and on the "Live

From Mars" TV show. I'm glad your class has been able to participate

with Mars Global Surveyor and to gain further understanding of the laser

altimeter investigation.

You will be interested to know that aerobraking - slowing the

spacecraft's orbital speed to change the orbit from eliptical to

circular - is underway again and working well, although we are doing it

at a slower and less stressful rate now that we understand that there is

a weakness in the structure that connects one of the solar panels to the

spacecraft equipment module.

A really interesting thing that has happend in the last few days is the

development of a large dust storm in the sourthern hemisphere. We

expected to see these occur. In the past, some of these storms have

affected the whole planet, obscuring the surface features from orbit.

Because the storm causes the atmospheric density to increase, we have

moved the spacecraft's orbit up by 7 km to a higher altitude (132 km).

It will be very exciting to watch the development of this storm over the

next week and see if it becomes global.

Thanks again to all of you for the opportunity to speak to you, and

thanks again for your interest in Mars Global Surveyor.

Glenn E. Cunningham

Mars Surveyor Operations

Project Manager