Q132875

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

E. Buchar

Discovery site

Algiers Obs.

Discovery date

17 November 1925

Named after

Tynka Buchar, (discoverer's mother)

Alternative designations

1925 WG · A902 TB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora

Observation arc

114.42 yr (41,793 days)

Aphelion

2.6561 AU

Perihelion

1.7402 AU

Semi major axis

2.1981 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.26 yr (1,190 days)

Mean anomaly

129.33 °

Mean motion

0° 18 8.64 / day

Inclination

5.2778°

Longitude of ascending node

147.15°

Argument of perihelion

176.64°

Dimensions

8.95 ± 0.22 km , 10.31 km (calculated) , 13.479 ± 0.225 km

Synodic rotation period

5.9818 ± 0.0003 h , 11.75 ± 0.01 h , 11.893 ± 0.002 h , 11.893 ± 0.005 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.479

Orbital period

1190.504494091061

via Wikidata · CC0