NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

Sojourner On Mars

The six wheeled robot rover Mars Sojourner [ http://mars.compuse…] rolled onto the martian surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] on July 5th (Sol 2) [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] at about 10:40 PM Pacific Daylight Time. This image confirms that its descent down the lander's rear deployment ramp was successful. Click on the image to download a "movie gif" constructed from 9 images taken by the Sagan Memorial Station's IMP camera [ http://mars.compuse…] which shows the rover rolling down the ramp! The rover moved only a short distance from the ramp and spent the night analyzing the martian soil [ http://www-k12.atmo…mars_data-informatio n/mars_overview.html #Viking Lander sites ] with its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer [ http://mars.compuse…]. Its next destination will be a tantalizing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] rock about 1 foot away that scientists have named "Barnacle Bill". A slow but steady off-road vehicle powered by a 1.9 square foot solar array, the rover can [ http://mars.compuse…] negotiate obstacles tilted at a 45 degree angle and travels at less than half an inch per second or nearly 0.03 miles per hour.

IMP Team [ http://www.lpl.ariz…], JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa…], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]

Mars

Arizona

Washington

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Mars

MPF

Viking

Spectrometer

Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap970707