Q135840

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

B. Jekhovsky

Discovery site

Algiers Obs.

Discovery date

15 June 1925

Named after

Fred Prévost, (French engineer)

Alternative designations

1925 LA · A898 VE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

88.15 yr (32,198 days)

Aphelion

3.9776 AU

Perihelion

2.2809 AU

Semi major axis

3.1293 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.54 yr (2,022 days)

Mean anomaly

175.72 °

Mean motion

0° 10 41.16 / day

Inclination

25.215°

Longitude of ascending node

55.635°

Argument of perihelion

251.42°

Dimensions

88.01 ± 27.85 km , 101.67 ± 1.45 km , 116.73 ± 2.9 km , 126.04 ± 43.76 km

Synodic rotation period

10.73 ± 0.05 h , 10.73 ± 0.05 h , 19.67 ± 0.01 h , 19.701 ± 0.0148 h

via Wikipedia infobox