Martian Rover Explores New Rocks

The Sojourner began rolling across the Martian surface Sunday as the rover traveled 16 feet around its lander to an area that included rocks named Desert, Princess and Baker’s Bench. It was to continue its trip today to the Mini-Matterhorn, which NASA scientists plan to analyze.

Sojourner will continue several more days on a circuitous route to an area called the Rock Garden.

Meanwhile, NASA scientists had hoped to download data Sunday from a rock named Souffle, but learned that the rover’s attempt to analyze the rock Saturday had failed.