Color Panorama: Sol 1

Landing on surface of Mars in Ares Vallis. Transmitter turned off shortly after landing to save power. After touchdown, the following sequence occurs: 1) Lander bounces and rolls to a stop 2) Airbags deflate and are retracted up against the petals 3) Petals open.

These events of the entry, descent and landing phase are complete between 11:32 a.m. and 12:33 p.m. PDT. A semaphore signaling the end of this phase is received via the Lander's Low-Gain Antenna.

At 2 p.m. PDT Sunrise at the Landing Site occurs. Operations begin for Sol 1 (note: Sol is a Mars day, --> such as 24 h and about 40').
The transmitter is turned on and the Spacecraft signals Earth through the Low-Gain Antenna. This communications session will contain telemetry from all engineering subsystems including the Rover and the first science data about the atmosphere taken during descent. Carrier is received at 1:55 p.m. PDT; following ground processing, actual first information are received by flight controllers at approx. 2:09 p.m. PDT.
Original caption:"In this image from the Pathfinder IMP camera, a wide diversity of rocks are strewn in the foreground. A (small) hill is visible in the distance (note: the notch within the hill is an image artifact). Airbags are seen at the lower right".