Mars Pathfinder [1] was an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight, 10.6 kg (23 lb) wheeled robotic Mars rover named Sojourner, [4] the first rover to operate outside the Earth–Moon system. The mission ...

Nov 6, 2024 · Explore the landing site of NASA's Pathfinder mission to Mars with your mouse or mobile device. This 360-degree panorama includes the lander's companion rover, Sojourner, and top science targets. NOTE: Not all browsers support viewing 360 videos/images.

Dec 4, 1996 · The Mars Pathfinder mission, designed to demonstrate a low-cost method for delivering a set of science instruments to the Red Planet, was the first wheeled vehicle to be used on any other planet in the solar system and served as the foundation for the Mars rovers of today.

Dec 7, 2021 · Favorable launch opportunities to Mars occur every 26 months, and during the late 1996 window, the United States dispatched two spacecraft to the Red Planet – an orbiter called Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Pathfinder, a lander that deployed the first rover on Mars.

What was NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission? On July 4, 1997, NASA landed a spacecraft on Mars, Pathfinder, for the first time in about two decades, following the successful Viking 1 and 2 missions. It was a big step for the space agency and for Mars exploration in general.

Nov 4, 1997 · After operating on the surface of Mars three times longer than expected and returning a tremendous amount of new information about the red planet, NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission is winding down.

Jul 27, 2022 · NASA’s Sojourner Mars rover captured this image of the Pathfinder lander with airbags, now deflated, that were used to cushion the spacecraft during touchdown. The letters “JPL” and an American flag can be seen on the lander’s electronics box below the lander’s camera, which is mounted on a mast.

Mars Pathfinder, robotic U.S. spacecraft launched to Mars to demonstrate a new way to land a spacecraft on the planet’s surface and the operation of an independent robotic rover. Developed by NASA as part of a low-cost approach to planetary …

Mars Pathfinder was the first completed mission in NASA™s Discovery Program of low-cost, rapidly developed planetary missions with highly focused sci-ence goals. With a development time of only three years and a total cost of $265 million, Pathfinder was originally designed as a technology demonstration of a way to deliver an instrumented lander

Jul 4, 1997 · Mars Pathfinder successfully landed on the surface of Mars at 10:07:25 a.m. Pacific time, marking NASA's historic return to the red planet after more than 20 years. The Pathfinder flight team received nearly instantaneous confirmation that the spacecraft had landed from an independent antenna mounted on one of the spacecraft's petals.