831 Stateira

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

20 September 1916

Pronunciation

/ s t æ ˈ t aɪər ə /

Alternative designations

1916 AA; 1926 VA;, 1949 SQ; 1949 UO1;, 1971 KZ; 1972 RV1

Observation arc

89.43 yr (32664 d)

Aphelion

2.5345 AU (379.16 Gm )

Perihelion

1.8906 AU (282.83 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.2125 AU (330.99 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.29 yr (1202.1 d )

Mean anomaly

91.2840 °

Mean motion

0° 17 58.128 / day

Inclination

4.8364°

Longitude of ascending node

178.081°

Argument of perihelion

224.935°

Earth moid

0.900859 AU (134.7666 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.85692 AU (427.389 Gm)

Synodic rotation period

4 h (0.17 d )

via Wikipedia infobox