Mars Pathfinder
NASA's Mars Pathfinder is an amazing robot spacecraft that landed on the Red
Planet and found out some interesting things about our second-nearest neighbor
in the solar system. The lander used a sophisticated system of parachutes,
braking rockets and inflatable balloons to cushion its impact on the Martian
surface. The landing went according to plan and the deployed lander is now
referred to as the Sagan Memorial Station in memory of astronomer Carl Sagan.
The base station has three petals covered with solar cells to provide electric
power; these petals opened up like a flower on landing and allowed the Sojourner
rover to move off a track and onto the Martian surface. Our K'nex model of the
Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner rover is based on NASA photos researched from the
Internet. This image shows the three open petals of the descent stage.
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