One of the two forward cameras aboard the Sojourner rover took this image of the Sagan Memorial Station on Sol 25. The camera uses a fisheye lens which produces the illumination gradient in the sky on the western horizon. The angular resolution of the camera is about three milliradians (.018 degrees) per pixel, which is why the image appears grainy.Features seen on the lander include (from left to right): the Atmospheric Structure Instrument / Meteorology Package (ASI/MET) mast with windsocks; the low-gain antenna mast, the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on its mast at center; the disc-shaped high-gain antenna at right, and areas of deflated airbags. The dark circle on the lander body is a filtered vent that allowed air to escape during launch, and allowed the lander to repressurize upon landing. The high-gain antenna is pointed at Earth. The large rock Yogi, which Sojourner has approached and studied, is at the far right of the image.
Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages and Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
