Trajectory Correction Manuever's or TCM's. TCM's adjusted for launch injection errors as well as small previous TCM errors (Introduction, 1998). The last adjustment occurred on June 25, 1997 and assured that the spacecraft would enter Mars' atmosphere at the proper angle of 14.2 degrees.
These changes and other controls were radioed to the Mars Pathfinder's instruments and delivered through computer programs that choreographed the sequence of activities that had to occur (Mars Pathfinder mission..., 1998). The giant dish antennas of the NASA/JPL Deep Space Network (DSN) conducted the tracking, telemetry, and command operations to the spacecraft. Time had to be allowed for transmission, typically eleven minutes once the spacecraft neared Mars. This is due to the differing rotations of the planets. A Martian day or sol is twenty-four hours, thirty-seven minutes, and twenty-three seconds in length (Earth time, of course).
The Mars Pathfinder was equipped with an abundance of equipment to allow completion of its scientific objectives. These instruments include
...