PIA00621: Color mosaic of rover & terrain

Target Name: Mars Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun) Mission: Mars Pathfinder (MPF) Spacecraft: Mars Pathfinder Lander Instrument: Imager for Mars Pathfinder Product Size: 2300 samples x 1100 lines Produced By: JPL Producer ID: P48824 MRPS81283 Addition Date: 1997-07-05 Other Information: Science Magazine, 5 December, 1997 Primary Data Set: MARS_PATHFINDER_PAGE Full-Res TIFF: PIA00621.tif (6.12 MB) Full-Res JPEG: PIA00621.jpg (203.9 kB)

Original Caption Released with Image: The Sojourner rover and undeployed ramps onboard the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft can be seen in this image, by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on July 4 (Sol 1). This image has been corrected for the curvature created by parallax. The microrover Sojourner is latched to the petal, and has not yet been deployed. The ramps are a pair of deployable metal reels which will provide a track for the rover as it slowly rolls off the lander, over the spacecraft's deflated airbags, and onto the surface of Mars. Pathfinder scientists will use this image to determine whether it is safe to deploy the ramps. One or both of the ramps will be unfurled, and then scientists will decide whether the rover will use either the forward or backward ramp for its descent. 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 the 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. Image Credit: NASA/JPL