Surface of Mars. Mars Pathfinder mosaic image of the dusty, rocky surface of the planet Mars, seen to the horizon. At lower right is a triangular petal of the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft with solar panels attached; white deflated airbags protected Pathfinder during its landing. At lower left is one of the ramps down which the Sojourner robotic rover vehicle moved to reach the martian surface. The Sojourner robot vehicle was designed to sample the martian rocks and relay geological data back to Earth. On the horizon is a hilly feature known as the double Twin Peaks". The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars on 4 July 1997."