Q135750

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

12 February 1926

Named after

Tamara Ivanova , (Soviet parachutist)

Alternative designations

1926 CC · 1927 JB, 1928 TA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

90.51 yr (33,058 days)

Aphelion

3.0443 AU

Perihelion

2.3327 AU

Semi major axis

2.6885 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.41 yr (1,610 days)

Mean anomaly

122.39 °

Mean motion

0° 13 24.96 / day

Inclination

3.8953°

Longitude of ascending node

186.88°

Argument of perihelion

109.88°

Dimensions

24.71 ± 6.42 km , 26.476 ± 0.237 km , 27.19 ± 1.9 km , 28.87 ± 0.44 km , 30.681 ± 0.394 km

Synodic rotation period

6.153 ± 0.001 h , 6.153 h , 6.19 ± 0.01 h , 6.1949 ± 0.0002 h , 6.195 ± 0.001 h , 6.1961 ± 0.0002 h , 6.22 h , 7.08 h

via Wikipedia infobox