Sojourner is the Mars Pathfinder robotic Mars rover that landed on July 4, 1997[1] in the Ares Vallis region, and explored Mars for around three months. It has front and rear cameras and hardware to conduct several scientific experiments. Designed for a mission lasting 7 sols, with possible extension to 30 sols,[2] it was in fact active for 83 sols (85 earth days). The base station had its last communication session with Earth at 3:23 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on September 27, 1997.[1][3] The rover needed the base station to communicate with Earth, despite still functioning at the time communications ended.[3] Sojourner traveled a distance of just over 100 meters (330 ft) by the time communication was lost.[4] It was instructed to stay stationary until October 5, 1997 (sol 91) and then drive around the lander.[5] Sojourner is the first wheeled vehicle to rove another planet.[6]
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