QUESTION:
How will the weather be measured and recorded on Mars? Will the gereral
public be able to access these findings?

ANSWER from Jim Murphy on July 1, 1997:
The weather on Mars, as measured by the Mars Pathfinder lander, will be
obtained from a wind sensor from which we will determine wind speed and
direction, atmospheric pressure (the 'weight' of air above a point on the
surface) will be measured by a pressure sensor located within the spacecraft
but which has a tube to sample the outside air.  Air temperature will be
measured by three thermocouples (electronic temperature sensors) located at
three positions along the meteorology mast located at the far tip of one of
Pathfinder's 3 petals (the petal on the left when the camera takes a picture
of the rover before it drives off of the spacecraft).  The wind sensor is
located at the top of this meteorology mast, 1.1 meters above the ground.

As our measurements are made on the surface of Mars, the data is stored on a
disk on the onboard computer.  Then, several times per day, all the data
collected since the last spacecraft transmission is transmitted to earth,
where it is received by big satellite dishes, and from there relayed to us
here at JPL, where we will get our first look at it, and begin our analysis.

Hopefully, all will go as we expect, and we will have terrific meteorology
data flowing from Mars for months to come!

[Editor's note: This data is now available at http://mars.sgi.com]