Q11554

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

B. Jekhovsky

Discovery site

Algiers Obs.

Discovery date

4 February 1924

Named after

Jacqueline Zadoc-Kahn Eisenmann , (discoverer's pupil)

Alternative designations

1924 QL · 1929 LG, 1953 AC · A924 ED, A924 CH

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) background

Observation arc

92.01 yr (33,607 d)

Aphelion

2.8098 AU

Perihelion

2.4017 AU

Semi major axis

2.6058 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.21 yr (1,536 d)

Mean anomaly

292.84 °

Mean motion

0° 14 3.48 / day

Inclination

7.9280°

Longitude of ascending node

118.94°

Argument of perihelion

68.145°

Mean diameter

37.65 ± 3.4 km 38.87 ± 0.51 km 40.152 ± 0.199 km

Synodic rotation period

7.87 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

40.152

Orbital period

1536.477185376755

Image

001017-asteroid shape model (1017) Jacqueline.png

via Wikidata · CC0