Surrounded by Mars
Explanation:
Just after landing on Mars in 1997,
the robotic
Mars Pathfinder
main station
took a quick first look around.
This insurance panorama was taken even before the
Sagan Memorial Station
camera was raised to its two-meter-high perch.
The full view is best seen by slowly scrolling to the right.
The unique perspective captures many
Mars Pathfinder instruments in the close foreground including a
screen for judging sky illumination, communications antennae,
solar
panels,
and two ramps leading down to the surface for the
robot probe Sojourner.
After taking the ramp on the right,
Sojourner can be seen on the
Martian surface.
Visible on the surface are numerous
rocks and
hills that came to be better studied.
The
Mars Pathfinder mission went on to return
16,000 images and data that resulted in
many discoveries, including evidence for
warmer and wetter conditions on
Mars in the past.
After nearly three spectacular months exploring the surface,
Mars Pathfinder dropped out of communication,
likely the result of depleted battery power.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
