Mars rover's next stop: Mini Matterhorn

July 28, 1997
Web posted at: 9:08 a.m. EDT (1308 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Mars rover Sojourner was to head Monday to a rock NASA has named the Mini Matterhorn. After analyzing the rock and taking pictures, it is to continue around the Pathfinder lander to explore other rocks.

NASA beamed the Blues Brothers' version of the song "Rawhide" across 119 million miles of space to kick off the rover's trek. On Sunday, Sojourner traveled 16 1/2 feet (almost 6 meters) around its lander Sunday to an area that included rocks named Desert, Princess and Baker's Bench.

Sojourner did not get to analyze a rock named Souffle; its wheels climbed up slightly on the rock, preventing its alpha proton X-ray spectrometer from getting the angle necessary to touch the rock, scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Sunday.

However, its lengthy trip around the lander on Sunday, which NASA called the Sol 23 plan, was completed without mishap. It is the longest single day trip the rover has made since its arrival on Mars on July 4.

 

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