Q136796

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

M. F. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

13 March 1931

Named after

Irmela Ruska, (wife of Ernst Ruska )

Alternative designations

1931 EC · 1940 GC, 1962 JD · 1988 CK 6

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

85.83 yr (31,351 days)

Aphelion

3.1700 AU

Perihelion

2.1916 AU

Semi major axis

2.6808 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.39 yr (1,603 days)

Mean anomaly

209.87 °

Mean motion

0° 13 28.56 / day

Inclination

6.9511°

Longitude of ascending node

170.11°

Argument of perihelion

357.21°

Dimensions

17.00 ± 3.43 km , 17.50 ± 4.91 km , 17.90 ± 0.57 km , 19.05 km (derived) , 19.09 ± 0.8 km ( IRAS :15) , 19.663 ± 0.049 km , 20.683 ± 0.181 km

Synodic rotation period

11.989 ± 0.001 h , 19.17 h

via Wikipedia infobox