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Mars Pathfinder
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Life on Mars?
Pathfinder Mission Going Strong at One-Month Mark
Nearly one month into its mission on the Martian surface, the Mars Pathfinder lander and the Sojourner rover continue to work well, returning stunning images and data on the Martian surface and atmosphere.
![[image of Sojourner rover]](../9708/images2/sojourner.jpg)
"The mission has already met or exceeded our wildest expectations," said project scientist Matthew Golombek at a July 31 press conference. He described both the rover and lander to be in "healthy" condition.
Mission controllers at JPL were planning to give the lander two days off starting August 3 to allow the batteries time to recharge. The power level in the batteries had been dropping, and before the mission the batteries had been rated to be rechargeable for 30 days, hence the decision to recharge them at that time.
The rover Sojouner continued to navigate across the Martian terrain near the landing site, making drives of over 5 meters (16.5 feet) autonomously, using only its own guidance system and computer to successfully navigate around a series of rocks. The rover has taken several samples of dust and rock between its traverses.
The lander's atmospheric instruments reported little change in the weather since the landing, with highs of around -12 degrees Celsius (8 degrees Fahrenheit) and lows near -76 Celsius (-105 Fahrenheit). Scientists expect to see more dramatic changes in the next month, as fall arrives and dust storms begin around the landing site.
The lander's camera did collect dramatic images of sunrise and sunset, including images of high clouds in the predawn hours. The clouds, which burn off shortly after sunrise, have prevented the lander from taking an image of the Earth in the night sky shortly before sunrise.
Images taken by the lander also show a bright, shiny object on the horizon about 1.2 km (0.75 miles) from the lander. Project scientists believe the object is, far Mars, an alien artifact: part of the aeroshell which protected Pathfinder during its fall through the Martian atmosphere, separating just before Pathfinder landed.