506 Marion

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

Raymond Smith Dugan

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

17 February 1903

Pronunciation

/ ˈ m ɛər i ɒ n , - ə n /

Alternative designations

1903 LN

Observation arc

104.59 yr (38200 d)

Aphelion

3.4888 AU (521.92 Gm )

Perihelion

2.5889 AU (387.29 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0389 AU (454.61 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.30 yr (1934.9 d )

Mean anomaly

178.097 °

Mean motion

0° 11 9.78 / day

Inclination

17.008°

Longitude of ascending node

312.950°

Argument of perihelion

146.177°

Mean radius

52.97 ± 1.3 km

Synodic rotation period

13.546 h (0.5644 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0454 ± 0.002

via Wikipedia infobox