The Mars Pathfinder mission was launched on December 4, 1996, and landed safely on Mars July 4, 1997. Intended mainly as a demonstration of a low cost entry, descent, and landing technique, Pathfinder operated for over three months, well beyond the one month period that had been planned for the lander and one week for Sojourner, the first rover vehicle to explore Mars.
August 4th, 1998
Pathfinder
The Mars Pathfinder probe may be finished, and its saga may already be the subject of history books and CD-ROMs. But Pathfinder
July 3rd, 1998
The big picture on Pathfinder: a giant leap toward unraveling millennia of mysteries
One year ago, the Mars Pathfinder mission turned a little rover into an international media star. But the allure of the Red Planet goes far beyond one space mission. NBC
June 29th, 1998
Pathfinder sees 2 sides of Mars
The Mars Pathfinder mission is still providing scientific surprises, one year after the spacecraft bounced to the surface of the Red Planet and nine months after it went mute. After a detailed analysis, scientists say the Martian landscape appears to have been frozen in time for billions of years.
March 11th, 1998
NASA Bids Pathfinder Good-Bye
Out in the cold and dark between worlds NASA scientists listened in vain Tuesday for a sign that the tiny Mars Pathfinder lander was still alive on the dusty red planet. But after four hours of waiting in vain, space officials declared the historic mission over. “The official ‘Time of Death’ was 1:21pm PST”, said Jennifer Harris at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Harris was one of the original Pathfinder mission Flight Directors. And while most of her team had long ago been disbursed to other projects, Harris was present Tuesday when the last attempt at contacting the craft was made.
December 6th, 1997
Pathfinder photos reveal role of wate on Mars
After studying more than 9,500 images taken during the acclaimed Mars Pathfinder mission, scientists report in today’s journal Science (Dec. 5) that surface photographs provide strong geological and geochemical evidence that fluid water was once present on the red planet.
December 5th, 1997
Mars Pathfinder evidence: Life on Mars? Florida Today
The Pathfinder robot uncovered evidence that Mars was once warm, moist and more like Earth than its forbidding surface might now suggest. All of this is “a shot in the arm for the possibility of finding evidence of life” on the Red Planet, said one researcher.
December 4th, 1997
Confirmed: Mars Like Earth: First Published Results from Pathfinder
Mars has clouds. A molten core much like the Earth
November 5th, 1997
Mars Pathfinder Winds Down After Phenomenal Mission Florida Today
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.
November 4th, 1997
Pathfinder Mission Huge Success
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.