472 Roma

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Key facts

Discovered by

Luigi Carnera

Discovery date

11 July 1901

Pronunciation

/ ˈ r oʊ m ə /

Alternative designations

1901 GP

Observation arc

114.55 yr (41838 d)

Aphelion

2.7825 AU (416.26 Gm ) (Q)

Perihelion

2.3049 AU (344.81 Gm) (q)

Semi major axis

2.5437 AU (380.53 Gm) (a)

Eccentricity

0.093876 (e)

Orbital period sidereal

4.06 yr (1481.8 d )

Mean anomaly

14.044 ° (M)

Mean motion

0° 14 34.62 / day (n)

Inclination

15.803° (i)

Longitude of ascending node

127.177° (Ω)

Argument of perihelion

295.56° (ω)

Dimensions

47.27 ± 3.4 km

Synodic rotation period

9.8007 h (0.40836 d )

Sidereal rotation period

9.8007 ± 0.0009 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

50.278

Orbital period

1481.113869851953

via Wikidata · CC0