Q121476

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

G. van Biesbroeck

Discovery site

Yerkes Obs.

Discovery date

4 September 1924

Named after

Simona Van Biesbroeck , (discoverer's daughter)

Alternative designations

1924 SM · 1937 CG

Minor planet category

main-belt · Eos

Observation arc

80.76 yr (29,498 days)

Aphelion

3.3538 AU

Perihelion

2.6474 AU

Semi major axis

3.0006 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.20 yr (1,898 days)

Mean anomaly

268.12 °

Mean motion

0° 11 22.56 / day

Inclination

10.664°

Longitude of ascending node

188.95°

Argument of perihelion

217.96°

Dimensions

19.195 ± 0.194 km , 20.247 ± 0.260 km , 20.29 ± 6.38 km , 23.72 ± 1.70 km , 24.71 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

9.6 h , 10.07 ± 0.06 h

via Wikipedia infobox