What was the name of the lander that deployed the Sojourner rover?

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The lander that deployed the Sojourner rover was Mars Pathfinder.

NASA’s Mars Pathfinder landed in Ares Vallis on July 4, 1997, carrying the small, six-wheeled Sojourner rover. The spacecraft used an innovative entry system involving airbags, allowing the lander to bounce across the Martian surface before coming to rest. After its petals opened, Sojourner descended a ramp and began exploring the nearby rocks and soil.

The lander was later renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station in honor of the astronomer and science communicator. Pathfinder served as more than a launch platform: it photographed Sojourner, relayed the rover’s communications to Earth, and conducted its own meteorological and geological investigations.

Sojourner was designed to operate for only a few Martian days but remained active for 83 sols and traveled roughly 100 meters. The mission demonstrated that a relatively small, low-cost rover could drive and perform science on another world. InSight and Phoenix were later Mars landers, while Viking 1 was an earlier lander without Sojourner.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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