Mars Pathfinder
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Mars Pathfinder is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a lander or rover, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 15,786 triangles in a 152 kB glTF file, and is 0.8 m across at full scale.
It is part of the map’s library; no object on the live map is drawn with it today.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Rover length | 0.65 m |
| Rover width | 0.48 m |
| Rover height | 0.3 m |
| Imp mast | 0.8 m |
CITED: - NSSDCA, Mars Pathfinder (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 (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) (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). (read 2026-10-26)
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).
The full record
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)
Where the map uses it. the mars-pathfinder landing site (registry/sites.yaml), Ares Vallis on Mars: the Carl Sagan Memorial Station with its three petals open, the airbags drawn heaped, and Sojourner beside it (where it stands is OURS: the rover moved). It was the generic lander (scene/models.js `lander`), which is still what is drawn while this file is on its way; public #1130
Licence note. Public domain (NASA/JPL's photographs and drawings), CC0 (the Smithsonian's photographs of the flight-spare rover) and CC BY 2.0 (Clemens Vasters', Stéphane Gallay's photographs of the full-size model): looked at, with credit; nothing of them is in the file. Photographs under CC BY-SA were looked at only. The shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh (the model's flag, JPL and NASA lettering are not drawn).
References 10
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Mars Pathfinder lander schemeNASAPublic domain (NASA, Mars Pathfinder Landing press kit; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Sojourner rover schemeNASAPublic domain (NASA, Mars Pathfinder Landing press kit; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- PIA04305NASA/JPLPublic domain (NASA/JPL; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- PIA04306NASA/JPLPublic domain (NASA/JPL; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- PIA04315NASA/JPLPublic domain (NASA/JPL; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- PIA04312NASA/JPLPublic domain (NASA/JPL; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Marie Curie Mars Rover 01The National Air and Space MuseumCC0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Mars Pathfinder (29310245285)Clemens VastersCC BY 2.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- National Air and Space Museum Washington - 037 (12737442845)Stéphane GallayCC BY 2.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Dec 2017Mys 721txCC BY-SA 3.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
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Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Mars Pathfinder 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=pathfinder" title="Mars Pathfinder, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
