Roving Over Mars

Abstract

This article focuses on the completion of successful mission of the Pathfinder lander and Sojourner. During its three months of travels—12 times longer than the vehicle was designed to last—the rover explored the vicinity of the lander in the Ares Planitia, probing the Martian surface and photographing its rocky environs. In the 1980s, well before the Sojourner design was chosen, contractors to JPL performed numerous studies regarding the various types of vehicle configurations. Once on Mars, the rover climbed obstacles as efficiently as our field tests and calculations predicted. The big unknown was encountering a soil type we were not familiar with, but Martian soil appears to be very similar to that on Earth. The success of Sojourner’s mission means that more rovers will be used in the future to carry scientific instruments to other sites on Mars. Other rovers may someday be large enough to carry manned missions and non-robotic drivers. By designing these reliable, highly mobile planetary rovers, we can expand the reach and scientific value of exploratory missions to other worlds.