Editing Mars Pathfinder (section)

{{Short description|Mission including first robotic rover to operate on Mars (1997)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Mars Pathfinder''}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name                  = ''Mars Pathfinder''
| image                 = Mars Pathfinder Lander preparations.jpg
| image_caption         = ''Pathfinder'' and ''[[Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner]]'' at JPL in October 1996, being 'folded' into its launch position.<ref name="NASA-Sojourner">{{cite web |last=Nelson |first=Jon |title=Mars Pathfinder / Sojourner Rover |url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/details.php?id=5913 |work=[[NASA]] |access-date=February 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219235613/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/details.php?id=5913 |archive-date=February 19, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| image_alt             = A group of scientists, all wearing white protective clothing, gather around a spacecraft as it is being folded into its launch position; a triangular pyramid shape.

| mission_type          = Lander{{dot}}Rover
| operator              = [[NASA]]{{dot}}[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]
| COSPAR_ID             = 1996-068A
| SATCAT                = 24667
| website               = {{url|http://mars.nasa.gov/MPF/}}
| mission_duration      = 85 days<br />''Launch to last contact'': 9 months, 23 days
| manufacturer          = 
| launch_mass           = 890 kg (includes propellant)<ref name=fact-sheet />
| dimensions            = 
| power                 = ''Pathfinder'': 35 W<br />''Sojourner'': 13 W
| launch_date           = {{start date|1996|12|04}} 06:58:07 [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]]
| launch_rocket         = [[Delta II]] 7925 (#D240)
| launch_site           = [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station|Cape Canaveral]] [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17|SLC-17]]
| launch_contractor     = None<ref>{{cite web|first=Erik|last=Conway|url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jplhistory/the90/pathfinder-t.php|title=The Discovery Program: Mars Pathfinder|work=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]|year=2015|access-date=June 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117184051/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jplhistory/the90/pathfinder-t.php|archive-date=January 17, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

| last_contact          = {{start date|1997|09|27}} 10:23 [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]]

|interplanetary         = 
  {{Infobox spaceflight/IP
   |type                = lander
   |object              = [[Mars]]
   |arrival_date        = {{start date and age|1997|07|04}} 16:56:55 [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] <br/> MSD 43905 04:41 [[Airy Mean Time|AMT]]
   |location            = [[Ares Vallis]], [[Chryse Planitia]], [[Mars]]<br />{{Coord|19|7|48|N|33|13|12|W|globe:mars|name=Sojourner rover (Mars Pathfinder)}}
   |distance            = 
  }}
| trans_band            = X-Band with high-gain antenna
| trans_bandwidth       = 6 kb/s to 70 m [[Deep Space Network]], 250 b/s to surface command<ref name=fact-sheet>{{cite web|url=http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/mpf/fact_sheet.html|title=Mars Pathfinder Fact Sheet|publisher=NASA/JPL|date=March 19, 2005|access-date=February 21, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919015757/http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/mpf/fact_sheet.html|archive-date=September 19, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

| insignia              = Mars Pathfinder Insignia.png
| insignia_caption      = Official insignia of the ''Mars Pathfinder'' mission.
| insignia_alt          = An image inside an oval, depicting two spacecraft, one a lander, and one a rover, on the surface of Mars. The words "Mars Pathfinder" are written on the top and the words "NASA{{dot}}JPL" are written on the bottom.

| programme             = '''[[Discovery program]]'''
| previous_mission      = ''[[NEAR Shoemaker]]''
| next_mission          = ''[[Lunar Prospector]]''
}}

'''''Mars Pathfinder'''''<ref name="NASA-Sojourner" /> was an American [[robotic spacecraft]] that landed a base station with a [[rover (space exploration)|roving probe]] on [[Mars]] in 1997. It consisted of a [[Lander (spacecraft)|lander]], renamed the '''[[Carl Sagan]] Memorial Station''', and a lightweight, {{cvt|10.6|kg|lb|adj=on}} wheeled [[robot]]ic [[Mars rover]] named ''[[Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/pathfinder.html |title=Mars Pathfinder |work=NASA |access-date=June 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112062226/http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/pathfinder.html |archive-date=November 12, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the first rover to operate outside the Earth–Moon system. The mission terminated in 1998.

Launched on December 4, 1996, by [[NASA]] aboard a [[Delta II]] booster a month after the ''[[Mars Global Surveyor]]'', it landed on July 4, 1997, on [[Mars]]'s [[Ares Vallis]], in a region called [[Chryse Planitia]] in the [[Oxia Palus quadrangle]]. The [[lander (spacecraft)|lander]] then opened, exposing the rover which conducted many experiments on the Martian surface. The mission carried a series of scientific instruments to analyze the Martian [[Celestial body atmosphere|atmosphere]], [[climate]], and geology and the composition of its [[rock (geology)|rocks]] and soil. It was the second project from NASA's [[Discovery Program]], which promotes the use of low-cost spacecraft and frequent launches under the motto "cheaper, faster and better" promoted by then-administrator [[Daniel Goldin]]. The mission was directed by the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] (JPL), a division of the [[California Institute of Technology]], responsible for NASA's [[Mars Exploration Program]]. The project manager was JPL's [[Tony Spear]].

This mission was the first of a series of missions to Mars that included rovers, and was the first successful lander since the two ''[[Viking program|Vikings]]'' landed on Mars in 1976. Although the [[Soviet Union]] successfully sent rovers to the Moon as part of the [[Lunokhod program]] in the 1970s, its attempts to use rovers in its [[Mars program]] failed.

In addition to scientific objectives, the ''Mars Pathfinder'' mission was also a "proof-of-concept" for various technologies, such as [[airbag]]-mediated touchdown and automated obstacle avoidance, both later exploited by the [[Mars Exploration Rover]] mission. The ''Mars Pathfinder'' was also remarkable for its extremely low cost relative to other robotic space missions to Mars. Originally, the mission was conceived as the first of the [[Mars Environmental Survey]] (MESUR) program.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sawyer |first=Kathy |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |title=One Way or Another, Space Agency Will Hitch a Ride to Mars |date=November 13, 1993 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/11/13/one-way-or-another-space-agency-will-hitch-a-ride-to-mars/c3c354a0-59d1-4373-aa88-15d8b5a3f602/ |access-date=March 6, 2023 }}</ref>