Page 307 - NS-2 Textbook

302 NAUTICAL SCIENCES

Mars PathNnder's twenty-five-inch-long rover Sojourner was the first vehicle of its kind to be landed on the surface of an extraterrestrial body.
Here, it has been photographed by its base station alongside a rock dubbed "Barnacle Bill." A larger rock named "Yogi" awaits exploration
at the upper right. A portion of the ramp leading to the surface from the base station appears at the lower left, JPL/NASA

so far, the results were generally considered inconclu- disputed these claims, stating that the alleged "bacteria"
sive. Interestingly, one of the many pictures sent back were in fact products of chemical reactions.
from the Viking orbiter contained an eerie image of what Suffice it to say that these events sparked much re-
seemed to some to be a human face carved out of a hill. newed interest in the possibility of present or past life on
It has appeared periodically in many tabloid newspa- Mars. In response} many innovative new missions were
pers ever since. sent to explore Mars further, and many others are planned
In 1996 NASA scientists reported that they had dis- for the next decade. One of the fiTst and most successful of
covered fossilized evidence of ancient Martian bacteria these was Mars Pathft"del~ launched in December 1996. It
in an Antarctic meteorite determined to have originated made a cushioned landing on the Martian surface on the
on Mars some 3 billion years ago. Their findings were Fourth of July 1997. Carried aboard was a small 22-pound
based on cheillcat mineral, and structural evidence solar-powered, wheeled rover called Sojourner. It was de-
fOlmd in the interior of the meteorite. The discovery was signed to roam around the landing area to collect and send
immediately hailed as one of the most important in the back information obtained through black-and-white and
last century by many scientists interested in the possibil- color photographs taken by cameras on its base platform,
ity of extraterrestrial life. Later, howevel~ other scientists and by a spectrometer carried on board. For the next two