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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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

8 September 1920

Named after

Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote

Alternative designations

A920 RB · 1930 KD, 1930 KR · 1931 TO 2 , 1942 RD 1 · 1984 BK 7 , A913 HA · A921 WD, 1920 HN · 1913 HA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis

Observation arc

98.95 yr (36,140 d)

Aphelion

3.6843 AU

Perihelion

2.5802 AU

Semi major axis

3.1323 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.54 yr (2,025 d)

Mean anomaly

8.7542 °

Mean motion

0° 10 40.08 / day

Inclination

2.3660°

Longitude of ascending node

62.161°

Argument of perihelion

253.49°

Mean diameter

38.08 ± 0.94 km 39.56 ± 1.2 km 43.227 ± 1.035 km

Synodic rotation period

9.3650 ± 0.0006 h

via Wikipedia infobox