Q11537

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

V. Albitzkij

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

5 October 1923

Named after

Ivan Pavlov , (Russian physiologist)

Alternative designations

1923 OX · 1934 FE, 1954 UG 1 · 1956 AK

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

110.93 yr (40,516 days)

Aphelion

3.0098 AU

Perihelion

2.4048 AU

Semi major axis

2.7073 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.45 yr (1,627 days)

Mean anomaly

25.348 °

Mean motion

0° 13 16.68 / day

Inclination

2.5423°

Longitude of ascending node

307.12°

Argument of perihelion

77.226°

Dimensions

18.264 ± 0.090 km , 19.263 ± 0.062 km , 20.47 ± 7.78 km , 20.83 ± 5.50 km , 24.13 ± 0.47 km , 32.03 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

8.23 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

18.264

Orbital period

1627.653255116899

via Wikidata · CC0