Q11548

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

12 January 1924

Named after

Sarema , (character in opera/poem)

Alternative designations

1924 PM · 1942 VC 1 , 1954 XL · 1954 YF, A907 VQ · A907 WA, A924 AD

Minor planet category

main-belt · Nysa , background

Observation arc

110.21 yr (40,255 d)

Aphelion

2.8132 AU

Perihelion

2.1460 AU

Semi major axis

2.4796 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.90 yr (1,426 d)

Mean anomaly

45.983 °

Mean motion

0° 15 8.64 / day

Inclination

4.0321°

Longitude of ascending node

73.188°

Argument of perihelion

24.805°

Mean diameter

16.06 ± 5.63 km , 17.228 ± 5.264 km , 18.18 ± 5.40 km , 20.905 ± 0.122 km , 21.12 ± 1.3 km , 21.13 km (derived) , 21.144 ± 0.115 km , 22.96 ± 0.49 km

Synodic rotation period

10.307 08 h , 10.32 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

20.905

Orbital period

1425.873147102209

Image

001012-asteroid shape model (1012) Sarema.png

via Wikidata · CC0