Q136858

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

1 August 1929

Named after

Herbert Hall Turner , (British astronomer)

Alternative designations

1929 PL · 1930 UO, 1930 WL · 1932 CC, A919 SE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos

Observation arc

87.93 yr (32,115 days)

Aphelion

3.3314 AU

Perihelion

2.7190 AU

Semi major axis

3.0252 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.26 yr (1,922 days)

Mean anomaly

252.20 °

Mean motion

0° 11 14.28 / day

Inclination

10.752°

Longitude of ascending node

42.988°

Argument of perihelion

295.00°

Dimensions

34.290 ± 0.275 km , 35.56 ± 2.0 km , 37.17 ± 7.78 km , 39.06 ± 0.57 km , 39.19 ± 1.25 km , 39.691 ± 0.354 km

Synodic rotation period

12.010 h , 12.066 ± 0.004 h , 12.085 ± 0.001 h , 15 ± 2 h

via Wikipedia infobox