1997 MARS PATHFINDER

Mars Pathfinder was the second of NASA’s lowestcost exploration missions launched. Innovative,
economical and highly effective approaches were demonstrated for this ambitious choice to send a
lander and rover to the surface of Mars. It was a vehicle made with less money than the money used
to make the movie Titanic. The purpose of this spacecraft and rover was to confirm theories of lava
or debris flows. Another purpose of sending this vehicle was to prove the feasibility of low-cost
landings and robotic exploration to Mars.

This spacecraft included the base station and rover to land on Mars. The station inside is called Carl
Sagan Memorial Station. The rover is called Sojourner. After the necessary precautions and studies
were completed, Pathfinder was launched by NASA on December 4, 1996. Pathfinder, which entered
the atmosphere of Mars at a speed of about 27 thousand kilometers on July 4, 1996, opened a
parachute to reduce its speed and descended to 98 meters. This spacecraft then fired its rockets to
slow down even more. The huge, carefully designed airbag inflated, and the Mars Pathfinder crashed
into the surface of Mars at 65 kilometers per hour. It jumped to a height of about 15 meters when it
first hit. It bounced like a ball about 15 times and then stopped. It settled down more upright than
the vehicles on other missions and opened the hatches to take out the Sojourner vehicle inside.
Soon after, the spacecraft, which settled on the plain called Chryse Planitia near the region called
Mars Valley, sent scientists and engineers to scan the places where Sojourner would explore. After
that, scientists began to take incredible images from Mars thanks to Sojourner and Pathfinder. They
could see the rocky and uneven terrain, the clouds in the sky of the planet Mars, the sunset views
and even the dust spreading into the air. Thanks to Sojourner, they began to receive data on why
these occurred. Scientists uploaded images and data to the site as they came, and in a short time the
site was viewed 500 million times.

Pathfinder's battery started to fail. Despite the defective battery, the scientists managed to continue
the mission for 3 months. On September 27, 1997, Pathfinder sent its final data to the world.
Scientists didn’t give up and tried to communicate with Pathfinder for 5 months, but this was not
possible. Although this mission was short-lived, with the experience gained from this mission, Spirit,
Opportunity, Curiosity, and Persevarance, which includes a rover in 2020, were successfully sent to
Mars. In addition, from the data taken from the place where it fell, it was learned that it landed in
the region of an ancient Mars sea, which was formerly on Mars. This received data led to many
future projects. Mars Pathfinder has truly brought an unprecedented experience to the world.