30 January, 1998. The Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars on July 4, 1997 in Ares Vallis one of the Martian flood channels. The rover showed the existence of different kinds of rocks (both sulfur and silicate rich), and that the silicates are similar to those found in the Andes of South America. The spacecraft confirmed that water once flowed in great abundance in the Ares Valley. The craft went off the air September 27, 1997.