Q136178

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

P. Shajn

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

11 September 1928

Named after

Annie Jump Cannon , (American astronomer)

Alternative designations

1928 RV · 1956 AG

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora

Observation arc

74.35 yr (27,155 days)

Aphelion

2.5616 AU

Perihelion

1.8707 AU

Semi major axis

2.2161 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.30 yr (1,205 days)

Mean anomaly

333.96 °

Mean motion

0° 17 55.32 / day

Inclination

4.0492°

Longitude of ascending node

158.67°

Argument of perihelion

219.80°

Dimensions

8.10 ± 1.25 km , 9.92 ± 0.70 km , 10.184 ± 0.140 km , 10.80 km (calculated) , 10.80 ± 0.75 km

Synodic rotation period

3.79 h , 3.816 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

10.184

Orbital period

1204.728708591924

via Wikidata · CC0