Mars Pathfinder entry, descent, and landing reconstruction

The primary objective of the Mars Pathfinder mission was to demonstrate an innovative, low-cost, reliable method for piecing a science payload on the surface of Mars. The spacecraft performance during entry, descent, and land ing is assessed. Analysis of the accelerometer and altimeter flight data ob tained by the Pathfinder spacecraft during atmospheric flight is provided. Results of an effort to reconstruct the spacecraft trajectory and attitude history are presented. An estimate of the Mars atmosphere profile encounter ed during atmospheric flight is given.