First Steps: Sojourner - S4E2

In this season 4 finale, Gentry Lee and Rob Manning reveal how surprises, hidden flaws, and uncertainties have always been a part of rovers and the exploration of Mars. 

Aaron Yazzie and others explain how, by scooping dirt and drilling rocks, rovers are digging deeper into the mysteries of Mars. 

It’s the 25th anniversary of the Pathfinder Mars mission and Sojourner, the first rover on the Red Planet. Historian Michael Neufeld joins the show to put this path blazing mission in context as the start of NASA’s low-cost Discovery mission line. There have been 12 Discovery ...

Over two decades ago, an innovative partnership between The Planetary Society, NASA, and LEGO created the Red Rover Goes to Mars program. Today, we reflect on the program's remarkable achievements with our chief scientist, Bruce Betts. We're also joined by two extraordinary pe ...

We learn more about the Perseverance Rover and how NASA engineers had to navigate tricky technical and financial challenges to make it all work. Plus, we get our first chance to listen to the soundscape of Mars. It's pretty windy. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.i ...  Show more

On Christmas Day 2003, a British space craft was due to land on Mars and begin searching for signs of life. The late Professor Colin Pillinger describes the daring mission. Originally broadcast December 2015.