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Mars
Sojourner Rover
|
Full Scale
w/ radio control
 The
Rover (which is basically a robot that can drive around the planetary surface),
was a vital part of the Pathfinder mission. Christened Sojourner, the little
rover carried a variety of equipment to help analyze the Martian surface,
including the APXS system. Its mission included analyzing rocks in a 10
meter circle around Pathfinder. The Rover's wheels were designed with steel
treads and cleats to help it clear the rocky terrain. Its speed was not
very impressive (only .6 meters per minute). To prevent the little rover
from tipping over, it was equipped with motion sensors on its frame that
analyzed tilt. The rover took many images of the surface, and the rocks
that it had analyzed, sending them back to Earth along with scientific
data.
A previous try
at the rover idea was made by the Russians in 1970. Called the Lunakhod
1, it was landed on the moon and took more than 20,000 images.
The Sojourner
rover was the first to actually be operated on another planet. The Rover's
operations included taking images each sol to determine the operations
for the next sol, to take and analyze soil samples, imaging the pathfinder
lander to help with engineering assessment, and conducting a series of
experiments to validate the rover idea. It's every move was tracked during
its time on Mars, including images of every trench its wheels created,
thermal monitoring, logging of vehicle performance data, and records of
sensor performance. The mission was a guideline for future rover based
missions and helped us better understand the Red Planet itself. risk to
human explorers. |
| Mission
Launch: December
4, 1996
Landing: July 4,
1997
End of Primary Mission:
August 3, 1997
Communications Lost:
September 27, 1997
End of Mission:
March 10, 1998
Cruise Phase
Launch Mass: 890
kg
Entry Mass: 570
kg
Height: 1.06 meters
(3.5 feet)
Width: 3.6 meters
(12 feet)
Lander
Mass: 360 kg
Height: 0.4 meters
Height + IMP: 0.7
meters
Width: 1.6 meters |
Payload:
Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) Atmospheric Structure Instrument/ Meteorology
package (ASI/MET)
Sojourner Rover
Mass: 16 kg
Height: 280 mm (10.9
in)
Length: 630 mm (24.5
in)
Width: 480 mm (18.7
in)
Ground Clearance:
130 mm (5 in)
Payload: Alpha Proton
X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) Hazard range detection system Stereo B&W
Cameras on front Six-wheel drive, four-wheel steerable Rocker-bogie mobility
chassis |
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