Slightly Above Mars Pathfinder
			
		
		
		
			If you could have hovered above the 
Pathfinder mission to 
Mars in 1997, this is what you might have seen.  
Directly below you is the control tower of 
Sagan 
Memorial Station. 
Three dark solar arrays extend out to collect valuable energy, 
surrounded by light-colored deflated airbags that protected Pathfinder's instruments from directly colliding with the rocky Martian surface.  
The left 
solar panel has ramps down which 
Pathfinder's 
rolling robot 
Sojourner started its adventure to nearby rocks.  
Sojourner itself is visible 
inspecting a rock nicknamed 
Yogi at 11 o'clock.   
Rocks cover the 
Martian surface, with 
Twin Peaks 
visible on the horizon at 9 0'clock.  
The distant sky is mostly orange.  
This image is a recently released digital combination of 
panoramic pictures 
taken by Pathfinder on Mars and a picture of a 
Lander scale model back on Earth.  
The Mars Pathfinder Mission was able to 
collect data for three months, sending back information 
that has indicated a wet distant past for Mars.