Happy 24th Anniversary of the Pathfinder Lander + Sojourner!

Today's July 4th, which most people know as American Independence Day. What's lesser-known and often forgotten is another awesome American achievement, the landing of Pathfinder and Sojourner. 24 years ago today, the "cheaper, faster, better," exploration lander touched down on Mars' surface to begin 85 days of Martian roving and surveying. Wikipedia here

In this 360-degree panorama, you get a full view of Pathfinder's landing site. In the center, Sojourner can be seen approaching the rock "Yogi" for a spectrometer reading.

Sojourner is by far the coolest part of Pathfinder. It's the first rover to actually work on Mars, preceded by two failed Soviet Prop-M rovers. About 550 images were sent back from Sojourner, as well as 18 spectrometer readings. Unlike the more modern Mars rovers, Sojourner was mostly manual control. Images from itself and Pathfinder were combined to make a map where then routes would be planned and someone would drive it from Earth.

It certainly was a busy rover!

85 days after landing, contact was lost with Pathfinder, causing the mission to end 4 months later. In the event of this happening, Sojourner was instructed to simply drive around Pathfinder. It's hard to know, but possibly Sojourner could still be driving to this day. I like to think it is.

Further Interesting Links:
JPLraw Media Reel 1
JPLraw Media Reel 2
Sojourner Gif Movies