Sojourner

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The Sojourner rover was a vehicle that reached Mars on July 4, 1997 as part of the Mars Pathfinder mission. Sojourner was operational on Mars for 92 sols (95 Earth days), and was the first wheeled vehicle to operate on an astronomical object other than the Earth or Moon. The landing site was in the Ares Vallis channel in the Chryse Planitia region of the Oxia Palus quadrangle. The rover was equipped with front and rear cameras, and hardware that was used to conduct several scientific experiments. It was designed for a mission ending 8 sols, with a possible extension to 30 sols, and was active for 83 sols (85 Earth days). The rover communicated with Earth through the Pathfinder base station, which had its last successful communication session with Earth at 3:23 a.m. PDT on September 27, 1997. The last signal from the rover was received on the morning of October 7, 1997. Sojourner traveled just over 100 meters (330 ft) by the time communication was lost. Its final confirmed command was to remain stationary until October 5, 1997, (sol 91) and then drive around the lander; there is no indication it was able to do so. The Sojourner mission formally ended on March 10, 1998, after all further options were exhausted.