Q136127

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

C. Jackson

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

5 April 1929

Named after

Catriona (novel by, Robert Louis Stevenson )

Alternative designations

1929 GD · 1926 RQ, A908 AC

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) background

Observation arc

109.01 yr (39,815 days)

Aphelion

3.5946 AU

Perihelion

2.2522 AU

Semi major axis

2.9234 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.00 yr (1,826 days)

Mean anomaly

348.27 °

Mean motion

0° 11 49.92 / day

Inclination

16.523°

Longitude of ascending node

356.52°

Argument of perihelion

82.666°

Dimensions

36.71 ± 0.53 km , 38.741 ± 0.281 km , 39.02 km (derived) , 39.04 km , 39.12 ± 0.7 km , 41.010 ± 0.396 km

Synodic rotation period

8.83 ± 0.01 h , 8.832 h , 10.49 h , 12.06 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

38.741

Orbital period

1830.265124654268

Image

001116-asteroid shape model (1116) Catriona.png

via Wikidata · CC0