Q112385

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

George Henry Peters

Discovery site

Washington, D.C.

Discovery date

16 November 1917

Alternative designations

1917 b

Observation arc

105.87 yr (38670 days)

Aphelion

4.0269 AU (602.42 Gm )

Perihelion

2.3205 AU (347.14 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1737 AU (474.78 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.65 yr (2065.1 d )

Mean anomaly

217.593 °

Mean motion

0° 10 27.552 / day

Inclination

16.846°

Longitude of ascending node

58.918°

Argument of perihelion

301.838°

Earth moid

1.36733 AU (204.550 Gm)

Jupiter moid

1.67995 AU (251.317 Gm)

Mean radius

45.28 ± 6.3 km

Synodic rotation period

9.001 h (0.3750 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

86.793

Orbital period

2060.683901667312

Image

886 Washingtonia orbit on 01 Jan 2009.png

via Wikidata · CC0