When Pathfinder reaches Mars, it will enter the atmosphere directly at a velocity of 7.65 km per second. The lander's velocity will slow through a sequence of air-braking maneuvers utilizing the lander's heat shield. Eventually a parachute is deployed to slow the craft. Finally, small solid rockets will also fire to slow the lander, and then giant airbags will inflate to cushion the impact. Important engineering data will be collected and radioed to Earth during entry and landing, because the details of this landing and how the system performs are the main objective of Pathfinder's mission. The entry will last about 5 minutes. As the spacecraft touches down, it will still be nighttime at the landing site. Earth will have just risen above the local horizon, and sunrise will occur about 4 hours later.
After landing, the highest priority activities on the first day are to make sure the lander is in an upright position, radio all of the engineering data collected during the landing back to Earth, acquire a panoramic image of the surrounding terrain, and deploy the micro-rover. It will be extremely important to move the rover off of the solar panel upon which it sits during delivery to Mars. The rover must be moved off the solar panel within the first day or two to ensure that the lander can collect enough solar energy to keep functioning. The Primary Mission will last about 30 days. An Extended Mission phase will occur indefinitely as long as the lander survives past the first 30 days.