QUESTION: 
My question is regarding the communications technology on the rover.
What happens if the rover can't send the information it has collected
back to Earth?

ANSWER from Tim Gallagher on February 3, 1997:
Your question on communications problems is one of the biggest worries 
that anyone involved with manned or unmanned spacecraft can have.

Pretend that you are on the phone and the connection is cut off suddenly. 
You try to redial but can't get though.  You may start worrying about what
has happened to your friend on the other end of the phone line (a bad storm
could have knocked out the telephone line).  This is exactly what happens
when we lose contact with a spacecraft.

The Sojourner has its communication link to the Mars Lander.  All commands
and telemetry (what's happening) is via this UHF radio interface.  If
contact is lost with the Sojourner then that part of the experiment is
over.  Remember there are other instruments which are part of the Lander
and hopefully they will continue on working as planned.  I understand that
for most people the Sojouner is the 'neatest' part of the Mars Pathfinder
mission but it is only one element of a very important mission.

If the Mars Lander communication system fails then the mission is
essentially finished (except for trying to figure out what went wrong and
examining the data previously collected).  

The Mars Pathfinder is a proof-of-concept for a new generation of space
vehicles - cheaper and simpler.  If it arrives at Mars and lands safely
then a major part of the experiment will be answered (the Lander uses a
very different landing technique which hasn't been proven yet).  The
Pathfinder equipment is made to last for months not years.