Feb. 26, 2016

You can explore the landing site of NASA's Pathfinder mission with your mouse or mobile device. This 360-degree view uses images taken in 1997 displayed using present-day technology. It includes the lander's companion rover, Sojourner - the first rover on Mars- and top science targets.
Pathfinder arrived at Mars on July 4, 1997, using a new airbag technology to cushion the landing. From landing until the final data transmission on Sept. 27, 1997, Pathfinder returned 2.3 billion bits of information, including more than 16,500 images from the lander and 550 from the rover.

Pathfinder lived up to its name by paving the way for future NASA Mars rovers, including the Mars Exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which used similar airbag technology to land in January 2004, and Curiosity, which landed in August 2012 utilizing a daring and innovative sky crane technology. Opportunity and Curiosity continue operating on the surface of Mars and returning data.

Image: Explore a 360-degree interactive view of the site where NASA's Pathfinder mission and its Sojourner rover landed on the Red Planet in 1997: http://bitly.com/360pathfinder