#marspathfinder

[spacettf]

Mars and Acidalia by NASA on The Commons on Flickr.

[penny4nasa]

The planet Mars has been an important target for scientific research in our solar system for many reasons. It shows signs of once having liquid water and is the closet planet to Earth whose surface we are able to directly observe and explore. To this end humanity has sent numerous probes to orbit and land on the red planet. Back when Viking landed in the 70s Carl Sagan said that future exploration of Mars would require more; a roving vehicle capable of moving around the surface to collect data from more than one location.

On this day in 1996, the Mars Pathfinder mission launched from Earth to send to Mars a lander equipped with the Sojourner rover. Though not the first rover sent to Mars (two rovers were sent on Soviet probes before, but neither were successful), it was the first one to explore Mars beyond a landing site. It and three subsequent rovers sent to Mars fulfilled Sagan's vision of robotic exploration of Mars, but sadly Carl Sagan passed away two weeks after the launch of Mars Pathfinder. For his contributions to many of NASA's interplanetary missions, the Pathfinder landing sight was renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

While we've continued our exploration of Mars with later orbiters, landers, and rovers, it is worth remembering these missions are expensive. The study of Mars is very important, but so is the rest of our Solar System, and many missions do not make it past the drawing board due to budget issues in NASA. Let your Representative know if you think this should change: http://www.penny4nasa.org/take-action

Check out the link below to hear Carl Sagan talk about his vision of robotic exploration of Mars from the Carl Sagan Tribute Series by Milky Way Musings: http://bit.ly/1bHz4gC