A tribute to Phoenix' SSI Options

[vikingmars]

YES : 5 wheels to the SSI and its wonderful team (Chris Shinohara, Mark Lemmon...) !
SSI derives, with new capabilities, from the Mars Pathfinder's successfull IMP camera.
Remember : the IMP was a great instrument. It provided nice 360° panoramas of the Martian surface, radiometric and atmospheric informations and brought back fantastic surface images showing the Sojourner microrover and science data of the Martian surface.
To celebrate SSI's success, let's lok back to IMP's "Insurance Pan" taken the 2nd Sol after landing in July 1997. This "Insurance Panorama" was taken just before the IMP was raised to its two-meter-high mast. This unique perspective captures (from left to right) in the close foreground : the hi-gain antenna, a color chart, low-gain antenna mast, solar panels, and the two ramps leading down to the surface, with the Sojourner microrover (at right) close to "Barnacle Bill" rock, and ready to roll to "Yogi" (the rounded boulder at far right)...