After hurtling millions of miles through space for seven months, NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on Friday, July 4, 1997. UTK Geology Professor Harry "Hap" McSween was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., when it landed in a rough, rocky Martian flood plain. With 19 other U.S. scientists, he helped NASA decide which Martian rocks should be analyzed.
A view of Mars taken by the Mars Pathfinder lander
The scientists were interviewed a lot by television, magazine, and newspaper reporters. Dr. McSween got a big laugh at the first press briefing when he described Pathfinder's location on Mars as a "real rock festival." Scientists named the rocks funny names like Barnacle Bill, Yogi, and Scooby Doo. By studying the rocks, scientists may be able to uncover all the Red Planet's secrets, McSween says. Get a look at more Martian rocks here.
Earthlings watched on their television and computer screens as the Sojourner's robotized rover, controlled by scientists at JPL much like a remote control car, beamed live pictures of the Red Planet back to Earth, giving us the first pictures of Mars since the Viking Mission of 1976.
The rover's mission was to collect data for scientific study and test NASA's new technology.
The rover was expected to operate for only a week before running out of power. Instead, the rover traversed the rock-strewn terrain of Mars' surface 12 times longer than planned. That's the reason it was called the Little Rover that Could.
Pathfinder's lander had operated nearly three times its expected lifetime of 30 days. Engineers suspect that contact was lost because the spacecraft was literally frozen into silence. The extreme cold temperatures on Mars (a low of -107 degrees F, or -77 degrees C) may have broken something in the electronic circuitry. Attempts will be made from time to time to re-establish contact with Pathfinder, but even if that fails, the overall mission was regarded as a stunning scientific and engineering success.
Since its landing, the Mars Pathfinder has returned 2.6 billion bits of information, including more than 16,000 images from the lander and 550 from the rover, more than 15 chemical analyses of rocks, and extensive data on winds and other weather factors.
What we learned about MarsHow do Mars and Earth compare?
Questions or comments? sloveda2@utk.edu
The Little Rover That Could