#Mars#Sojourner#rover#přistání
Mars Pathfinder demonstrated a new way to land on Mars: after atmospheric entry it used a parachute and a system of inflatable airbags. The lander opened in Ares Vallis on 4 July 1997 and deployed the small Sojourner rover.
Sojourner examined rocks and soil with its APXS instrument while the lander returned panoramas and weather measurements. The mission strongly influenced later Mars rover programmes and showed that a mobile laboratory could be delivered safely on a limited budget.
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Facts
- At 10.6 kg, Sojourner was the first wheeled robot operated on another planet.
- The lander returned more than 16,500 images and the rover another 550 images.
- The mission operated until 27 September 1997, beyond the rover’s originally planned week of activity.
Sources & further reading
- NASA Science: Mars Pathfinder — mission timeline, landing, and Mars data.
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Mars Pathfinder / Sojourner Rover.
Spaceflightpedia. (n.d.). Mars Pathfinder. Retrieved 21 October 2026, from https://spaceflightpedia.com/article/mars-pathfinder
article text — CC-BY-SA · ◉ NASA photography — public domain · ✦ AI illustration — marked, generated from sources
How it works
- How long does it take to reach Mars?
- Why are Mars launches limited to launch windows?
- How would people return from Mars?
- Why is landing on Mars so difficult?
