The launch in late 1996 of the Mars Pathfinder mission with its Sojourner rover then was exciting news indeed. Before Spirit, the exceptionally long-lived Opportunity, and the relatively huge ...

NASA scientists remember Mars Pathfinder’s Sojourner—the 90s experimental endeavor that started it all. Previously, the rover uncovered minerals mixed with sulfur. But this is the first time pure ...

American space agency NASA is looking into nickel-titanium as a potential material for future planetary rovers wheels, ...

So in order to gain contact with NASA, Watney digs up the Mars Pathfinder, the probe which NASA lost contact with in 1997. He fixes it (woo!) and the probe is able to communicate with Earth.