Historical Photo of the Month - July 2007

Early Pathfinder Airbag Testing
Photograph Number P-42776Ac

In July 1997 Pathfinder landed on Mars and the rover Sojourner began to explore the planet. Pathfinder (previously known as Mars Environmental Survey, or MESUR Pathfinder) was the first project to use airbag technology to cushion a spacecraft landing.

This photo was taken in August 1993 at Sandia National Laboratory's Coyote Canyon aerial cable test facility in New Mexico. Cables were stretched between two small mountains to hoist and release this 3/8 scale airbag system prototype. These airbags, in the original 3-lobed configuration, included external burst disks (orange patches) to release pressure and reduce rebound during the landing. The burst disks were eventually eliminated when Rocket Assisted Decelleration (RAD) rockets were introduced to the system design. These tests were performed to improve the team's understanding of the challenges and risks associated with an airbag landing system.

JPL and Sandia employees performed the tests. Second from right is Don Waye (a Sandia employee) and third from right is Tom Rivellini, the Pathfinder Airbag CogE, who provided the Archives with information about this photo. Others are unidentified.

[Archival sources: Photo albums and indexes, JPL508 (Mars Pathfinder Collection).] For more detailed information about Pathfinder or about the history of JPL, contact the JPL Archives for assistance.