NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) wanted to do something extraordinary – land on Mars but doing it in a inexpensive way. So they started their journey of trying something new and this is how they began the era called ‘Faster, Better, Cheaper’ by NASA. The story of the brave engineers working at JPL who didn’t worry about getting warnings that attempting to land on Mars with airbags could be dangerous to their careers is told in a documentary movie called “The Pathfinders”.
The Mars Pathfinder mission seemed doomed to fail, mainly because the parachute couldn’t really be tested in a way that fit the atmosphere on Mars. Plus, at the last minute they added an unneeded rover which looked like a toy. Still, it was taken on by a group of engineers and scientists who were young but led by an experienced manager with a reputation for taking chances.
The Pathfinders follows a courageous mission to Mars that amazed everyone and grabbed their attention. It had an exciting landing and the rover it was carrying with it became the first vehicle ever to move around on the planet’s surface!
The Mars Pathfinder mission was a special effort made to send some scientific tools to the planet Mars. This project was very important because it was the first time any vehicle with wheels had ever been used on another planet in our solar system. Additionally, its successful delivery of a little vehicle called Sojourner led to today’s amazing rovers that can explore Mars!
The Pathfinder mission used an air bag system and petal design to land Sojourner rover safely on Mars. It was then used to land other rovers too. After Sojourer was on the ground, it explored Mars for a full 83 days, which was longer than the original plan of 7 days. During its mission, it took pictures and gathered info about the terrain, chemicals in the atmosphere and more.
