Sojourner to take a spin around Mars

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December 2, 1996
Web posted at: 7:15 p.m. EST (2415 GMT)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) -- Sojourner is not much bigger than a toy radio-controlled car, but instead of spinning around a suburban driveway, it will -- if all goes well -- cruise the rocky surface of Mars.

The robotic rover is hitching a ride on NASA's Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, scheduled for launch at 2:03 a.m. EST Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Rain and strong winds pushed back the launch from Monday.

Pathfinder is scheduled to land on Mars on July 4, 1997, beating NASA's slower Global Surveyor, launched in November, by two months. It will be NASA's first Mars landing since Viking, 20 years ago.

"That entry, descent and landing part, that five minutes, is something we've never done before, and it's all new," said Curt Cleven, Pathfinder operations manager.

It will not be easy. A few seconds before landing, airbags will deploy to cushion the impact. After the spacecraft hits, it will bounce along the surface until it stops.

As the spacecraft begins taking the first pictures, it will also open up like flower petals, and the six-wheeled, 23- pound Sojourner will embark on its trek.

"On the first day, we will get a panoramic image to flash to the world," said Pathfinder project manager Tony Spears. "Everybody's going to be interested as to what the site looks like, and we are striving to get the rover off the lander the first day."

The landing site was chosen long before the recent discovery that Mars meteorites found on Earth may contain evidence of primitive life. The selected area is believed to contain a variety of rocks, some of which may be similar to the meteorites.

"We believe this area was actually a large outflow area where a body of water the size of one of the Great Lakes was emptied out in just a matter of a few days," said deputy project manager Brian Muirhead. "So, it's a torrential flood that went through this area."

Sojourner's job is to analyze the composition of a variety of rocks believed to have been deposited by the flood. While its instruments cannot detect life, Sojourner is expected to shed new light on whether Mars has or could now sustain life.

NASA has until the end of December to launch the $196 million Pathfinder on its trip of 310 million miles. After that, scientists would have to wait two years until Earth and Mars are back in the necessary alignment.

Pathfinder QuickTime Movies
	NASA Animation of Pathfinder landing on Mars and deploying its rover	30 second, 1.1M QuickTime movie
	Did life in our solar system begin on Mars?	37 second, 1.4M QuickTime movie
	Researchers at Stanford University demonstrate the process by which they look inside meteorites	24 second, 942k QuickTime movie

Correspondent John Zarrella and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Related stories:

• Mars probe falls back to Earth - November 18, 1996
• Surveyor soars toward red planet - November 7, 1996
• British present new evidence of life on Mars - November 1, 1996

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