Its airbags deployed, Mars Pathfinder set down on the Martian landscape amid rugged boulders sculpted by powerful winds and cataclysmic floods. The landing, in a spectacular site at the mouth of an ancient flood channel called Ares Vallis, established humankind's first Martian outpost in 21 years. The next day, July 5th, 1997, a six-wheeled, 23-pound robotic rover named Sojourner embarked from the mother ship to explore a world of dust devils, 82,000-foot high peaks and rocks stacked against one another like playing cards.
By utilizing stereo cameras with 24 filters to record its adventure, Sojourner was able to transmit dramatic 3-dimensional photos, such as this one, of the craggy topography. Many of the rocks, given whimsical names such as Barnacle Bill, Yogi, Couch Rock and Moe, provided evidence that they had been carved at one time by rushing waters as plentiful as all of the Great Lakes. In an atmosphere now so thin that water can't exist in a liquid state, there was the hint that life may have once existed here. But, alas battery problems ended Sojourner's mission after almost three months on the red planet.
The voyage nevertheless opened the door to future journeys that might reveal a universe far different than we ever imagined. For more information about Mars exploration, view these key web sites:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov
http://www.nasa.gov
http://polarlander.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://polarlander.jpl.nasa.gov/sitediag.html
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/mars/index.html
|
