QUESTION:
Did you think the Patfinder would last as long as it did?  How long will it
take to go through all the data?

ANSWER from Donna Shirley on December 10, 1997:
We were pleased that Pathfinder lasted as long as it did, but not really
surprised. Although Pathfinder's mission was originally only a month we had
designed it to last longer to make sure it really lived for a month.

New data from Pathfinder will continue to be processed for the next few
months and then scientists will keep using the data for years to figure out
what Mars is really like.