Q135767

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 , N. Ivanov

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

25 August 1927

Named after

Nadezhda Babushkina, (Soviet female parachutist)

Alternative designations

1927 QL · 1925 JA, A900 YB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Veritas

Observation arc

116.27 yr (42,467 days)

Aphelion

3.3349 AU

Perihelion

2.9907 AU

Semi major axis

3.1628 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.62 yr (2,054 days)

Mean anomaly

236.41 °

Mean motion

0° 10 30.72 / day

Inclination

8.3587°

Longitude of ascending node

313.24°

Argument of perihelion

158.78°

Dimensions

66.10 km (derived) , 66.27 ± 4.3 km , 68.24 ± 21.78 km , 68.48 ± 0.83 km , 73.3 ± 1.3 km , 79.867 ± 1.160 km

Synodic rotation period

18.074 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox