Q136531

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

8 September 1929

Named after

Ithaca (Greek Ionian Island )

Alternative designations

1929 RK · 1966 LA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

87.63 yr (32,007 days)

Aphelion

3.0719 AU

Perihelion

1.7417 AU

Semi major axis

2.4068 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.73 yr (1,364 days)

Mean anomaly

212.71 °

Mean motion

0° 15 50.4 / day

Inclination

6.5616°

Longitude of ascending node

225.42°

Argument of perihelion

122.36°

Earth moid

0.7459 AU · 290.6 LD

Dimensions

8.97 ± 2.41 km , 12.120 ± 0.100 km , 14 ± 3 km , 14.37 km (derived) , 20.46 ± 4.51 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

12.12

Orbital period

1363.192720154398

via Wikidata · CC0