Q11540

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

M. F. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

31 October 1923

Named after

La Paz (Bolivian capital)

Alternative designations

1923 PD · 1950 UN, 1970 JA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

93.41 yr (34,118 days)

Aphelion

3.3333 AU

Perihelion

2.8495 AU

Semi major axis

3.0914 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.44 yr (1,985 days)

Mean anomaly

70.925 °

Mean motion

0° 10 52.68 / day

Inclination

8.9362°

Longitude of ascending node

20.553°

Argument of perihelion

14.821°

Dimensions

38.54 km (derived) , 38.64 ± 2.7 km , 39.02 ± 0.66 km , 40.13 ± 13.98 km , 41.061 ± 0.240 km , 45.450 ± 0.245 km , 49.27 ± 17.54 km , 50.50 ± 0.91 km

Synodic rotation period

8.998 ± 0.002 h , 9.002 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

41.061

Orbital period

1988.881111177842

via Wikidata · CC0