Q132892

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

S. Belyavskyj

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

11 October 1925

Named after

Ljuba Berlin , (Soviet parachutist)

Alternative designations

1925 TD · 1943 EH 1 , 1976 MM · A904 TB, A914 SD · A917 GB, A924 ND

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

91.55 yr (33,437 d)

Aphelion

3.2145 AU

Perihelion

2.7948 AU

Semi major axis

3.0046 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.21 yr (1,902 d)

Mean anomaly

218.82 °

Mean motion

0° 11 21.12 / day

Inclination

5.5963°

Longitude of ascending node

341.40°

Argument of perihelion

101.41°

Mean diameter

44 ± 4 km , 51.017 ± 0.887 km , 55.10 ± 2.0 km , 55.75 ± 0.96 km , 57.16 ± 13.41 km , 58.031 ± 1.315 km , 60.80 ± 14.17 km

Synodic rotation period

33.8 ± 0.2 h , 36 h (poor) , 41.5 ± 0.2 h , 42 h (poor)

via Wikipedia infobox