18. Ares Vallis

Mars Pathfinder landed near the mouth of the Ares Vallis river channel on July 4, 1997. This was the first spacecraft to land on Mars since the Viking landers in 1976, and it was the first time that a roving vehicle left the lander and explored the immediate landing site. The Sojourner rover has deployed a spectrometer onto the rock named Moe. Sojourner’s instruments provided the first chemical measurements of rocks in place on the surface of Mars. The view is to the southwest, with the solar panel of the Carl Sagan Memorial Station visible in the foreground, and South Twin Peak visible on the horizon about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the lander.

Mars Pathfinder Press Release P-49427.

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