# Mars Pathfinder 3D model

> Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.

Free 3D model of Mars Pathfinder, a lander or rover, built from published dimensions by Space Radar. 15,786 triangles, 152 kB glTF, MIT.

- **Class:** Landers and rovers
- **Mission:** Landers and rovers
- **Triangles:** 15,786
- **File:** pathfinder.glb, 152 kB, glTF 2.0 binary (meshopt)
- **Look:** Flat colours
- **Size:** 0.8 m across
- **Made:** Built from dimensions
- **Added:** 2026-10-27
- **Download:** https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/main/site/models/pathfinder.glb
- **Mirror:** https://git.sara-agent.org/sara-projects/space-radar/raw/branch/main/site/models/pathfinder.glb
- **Viewer:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=pathfinder
- **Licence:** MIT (https://github.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/blob/main/LICENSE)
- **Credit:** Mars Pathfinder 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT License

Canonical: https://models.spaceradar.ai/pathfinder/

## How it was made

Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and pictures (NASA/JPL, public domain; The National Air and Space Museum, CC0; Clemens Vasters and Stéphane Gallay, CC BY 2.0).

built by this project in code (release 1.4.0 stage r14-m8's scripts, one a craft, on release 1.3.0's part library, kept with the stage's notes), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (NASA's 3D Resources on GitHub, 1 583 paths, science.nasa.gov/3d-resources, 377 entries, and NASA Science's 3D-type resources have none of these craft; Lavochkin publishes none; read 2026-10-26)

## Dimensions

- Rover length: 0.65 m
- Rover width: 0.48 m
- Rover height: 0.3 m
- Imp mast: 0.8 m

Source: CITED: - NSSDCA, Mars Pathfinder (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1996-068A), read 2026-10-26: "The main lander components are held in a tetrahedral shaped unit in the center of the three petals, with three low-gain antennas extending from three corners of the box and a camera extending up from the center on a 0.8 meter high pop-up mast"; "Pathfinder opened its three metallic triangular solar panels (petals)"; "Over 2.5 meters of solar cells on the lander petals" (drawn: about 3 m2 of cells on three petals). - Wikipedia, Mars Pathfinder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Pathfinder), read 2026-10-26: "three windsocks mounted at three heights on a pole, the topmost at about one meter"; "four inter-connected multi-layer vectran bags that surrounded the tetrahedron lander"; the airbags "deflated and retracted toward the lander using four winches mounted on the lander 'petals'". - Wikipedia, Sojourner (rover) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_(rover)), read 2026-10-26: "a six-wheeled, 65 cm (26-inch) long, 48 cm (19-inch) wide and 30 cm (12-inch) high vehicle"; wheels "13 cm (5.1 in) in diameter and 7.9 cm (3.1 in) wide"; rocker-bogie; solar panel; APXS on an arm; two front cameras with five laser stripe projectors; a rear colour camera. OURS (read off the drawings and museum models with Sojourner's 65 cm as the ruler, so +-15 %): the base petal's edge 1.5 m; petals 1.15 m deep, 1.5 m wide at the hinge and 0.6 m at the tip, opened 3 degrees up; the body a truncated tetrahedron 0.5 m high, 0.78 m (base) and 0.6 m (top) across flats; the ramps 0.55 m wide and 1.55 m long; the IMP head 0.17 x 0.12 x 0.26 m; the high-gain disc 0.32 m; the low-gain rods 0.46 m; the airbag heaps; Sojourner's antenna 0.55 m; where Sojourner stands (it moved over 83 sols: here by the foot of the +z ramp, about 1 m beyond it).

## References

- [Mars Pathfinder lander scheme](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mars_Pathfinder_lander_scheme.jpg), NASA (Public domain (NASA, Mars Pathfinder Landing press kit; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [Sojourner rover scheme](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sojourner_rover_scheme.jpg), NASA (Public domain (NASA, Mars Pathfinder Landing press kit; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [PIA04305](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA04305.jpg), NASA/JPL (Public domain (NASA/JPL; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [PIA04306](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA04306.jpg), NASA/JPL (Public domain (NASA/JPL; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [PIA04315](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA04315.jpg), NASA/JPL (Public domain (NASA/JPL; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [PIA04312](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA04312.jpg), NASA/JPL (Public domain (NASA/JPL; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [Marie Curie Mars Rover 01](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marie_Curie_Mars_Rover_01.jpg), The National Air and Space Museum (CC0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [Mars Pathfinder (29310245285)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mars_Pathfinder_(29310245285).jpg), Clemens Vasters (CC BY 2.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [National Air and Space Museum Washington - 037 (12737442845)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Air_and_Space_Museum_Washington_-_037_(12737442845).jpg), Stéphane Gallay (CC BY 2.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))
- [Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Dec 2017](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mars_Pathfinder_and_Sojourner_at_the_Steven_F._Udvar-Hazy_Center,_Dec_2017.jpg), Mys 721tx (CC BY-SA 3.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26))