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Mars Pathfinder
CompletedNASA
Image: NASA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- Launched
- 4 Dec 199606:58:07 UTC
- Last contact
- 27 Sept 199710:23:00 UTC
- End declared
- 10 Mar 1998
- Duration
- 9 months 23 days
A NASA technology demonstration that landed on Mars cushioned by airbags and delivered Sojourner, the first rover to operate on another planet.
Milestones
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Launch4 Dec 1996Lands in Ares Vallis4 Jul 1997Sojourner rolls onto the surface6 Jul 1997Last transmission27 Sept 1997
Spacecraft
Lander that opened like a flower after bouncing to rest, carrying a stereo camera and weather instruments.
- Launch mass
- 398 kg
- Dry mass
- 350 kg
- Size
- 0.5 m × 1.4 m
- Power
- Solar
- Last contact
- 27 Sept 1997, 10:23:00 UTC
- End declared
- 10 Mar 1998
- Designator
- 1996-068A
Microwave-oven-sized, six-wheeled rover that analysed rocks near the lander for 83 Martian days, far beyond its planned seven.
- Launch mass
- 11 kg
- Size
- 0.3 m × 0.5 m, span 0.5 m
- Power
- Solar
- Last contact
- 27 Sept 1997, 10:23:00 UTC
- End declared
- 10 Mar 1998
Mission details from science.nasa.gov.
