Page 30 - (DK) Eyewitness - Mars

Mars Pathfinder

NASA launched Mars Pathfinder from
Kennedy Space Center in Florida in December
1996, and the lander parachuted to the Martian
surface on July 4, 1997. Protected by air bags,
it bounced several times before settling down
safely on Ares Vallis. The air bags deflated, the lander’s three SUNSET ON MARS
“petals” opened, and instruments began studying the In this photograph, the evening sky darkens as the
surroundings. Ares Vallis, just north of the equator, was possibly end approaches to Pathfinder’s day 24 on Mars—or
24th sol, as scientists term Martian days. The sun sets
an ancient channel where water had flowed. Sojourner, a robotic near the Twin Peaks, less than a mile from the
landing site in Ares Vallis on the Chryse Planitia.
“surface microrover,” drove from rock to rock, analyzing their
chemical and physical makeup. Before power ran out three Ramps for IMP camera
months later, Pathfinder and its rover sent back 2.6 gigabits of Sojourner
information about soil, rocks, and atmosphere, including 16,000 Satellite dish
images. The mission was a great success, especially because Solar panels
Pathfinder had been expected to last only one month. Protective
shield
Weather
monitor

PATHFINDER DEPLOYED
With air bags deflated and
its three “petals” fully
opened, the Mars Pathfinder
PREPARING A SOFT LANDING
Before the mission, Pathfinder scientists examine the air bags Deflated air bags lander is ready for research. Once a
that will inflate a few hundred feet above the surface to protect ramp is lowered, the rover will roll down
the spacecraft as it lands. Each bag is 17 feet (5 m) in diameter and begin to study soil and rocks. The IMP
and composed of four separate bags that have six smaller camera, or Imager for Mars Pathfinder, is atop the
spheres inside them. Petal, with solar array tall mast on the lander.
Twin Peaks
Antenna mast Rover ramp