The Sojourner Rover- All Questions Answered

All stations are ready to launch!!! Launching in 5 4 3 2 1 here we go……No, we are not going to space but sure we will learn about some interesting things about a rover which was the first wheeled vehicle to rove on a planet other than Earth.

WHAT IS THIS ROVER AND WHAT DID IT DO?

The name sojourner means traveller and the main work of this rover was to land on Mars and explore the planet while taking pictures of it. The size of the rover was the size of a microwave that studied the surface of Mars. The rover was not alone in its journey to Mars. It had a spacecraft named Lander and was in the shape of a pyramid that was covered with airbags. The airbags helped in a safe and smooth landing (or as they called it, bouncy landing).

Now when the landing became smooth and safe, the rover came out of the lander and started exploring the planet. It explored the area of Mars near a place called Ares Vallis. The scientists were very curious to know about this place because it looked like a place of an ancient flood. The rover could study different types of rocks without travelling much distance. The engineers also like the place because of its flat and safe space for landing.

Martian Planet

The rover sent almost 550 pictures of the Martian planet and used the instruments to find the composition of the dirt and rocks on the red planet. The lander also collected data about the wind and weather on Mars. After all this data about this rover, the second question which comes to our mind is whether the rover is still giving us data about the planet? Is it still there on Mars? Let’s find out.

IS THE ROVER STILL ON THE RED PLANET?

Do we still receive signals and data about the planet through this rover? is sojourner rover still sending us pics of the planet? Do we know the answers to those questions? Yes, we know and we will share it with you too. After landing on 4th July 1997 it was working for 95 Earth days. The rover communicated with the Earth through the pathfinder base station. It was functional for three months and gave data about Mars.

After three months, the rover couldn’t convey with the base station and the last signal that was received on Earth was on the morning of October 7th 1997. The scientists tried their best to re-establish the communication all in vain.

Rover On Red Planet

Finally on 10th March 1998 after all the possible action the Sojourner mission officially ended with no more chance of reconnecting.

So, now to end this topic, a quick recap would be that The Sojourner rover was the first wheeled rover to rove on another planet other than Earth. It was the first rover with an airbag mechanism and it also gave us a lot of information about Mars. It was a neighbourhood of the Mars Pathfinder Mission. Today, we got to know a bit more about our space and our solar system. There are also a lot of other missions where the rovers are sent to space to know more about the planets and all.

If you like this content and want to read similar blogs: https://explified.com/can-humans-live-on-europa/

Satellites and rovers are sent to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and many other planets to know about them and the possibility of life on that surface. In future, there will also be many other missions and many other rovers will be sent into space. 

Explified