Q119279

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

6 November 1923

Named after

Lydia Il'inichna Albitskaya , (discoverer's wife)

Alternative designations

1923 PG · A907 JF, A914 JA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background · Cybele

Observation arc

110.80 yr (40,471 d)

Aphelion

3.7695 AU

Perihelion

3.0454 AU

Semi major axis

3.4075 AU

Orbital period sidereal

6.29 yr (2,297 d)

Mean anomaly

346.68 °

Mean motion

0° 9 24.12 / day

Inclination

9.3940°

Longitude of ascending node

62.833°

Argument of perihelion

24.747°

Mean diameter

71.38 ± 2.2 km , 81.85 ± 21.71 km , 88.526 ± 0.762 km , 96.830 ± 1.081 km , 97.18 ± 1.38 km

Synodic rotation period

11.674 ± 0.002 h , 11.680 ± 0.005 h , 15.69 h , 48 ± 1 h (poor)

via Wikipedia infobox