Q136919

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

9 June 1931

Named after

Rhodesia , (former state in southern Africa)

Alternative designations

1931 LD · 1925 AC, 1970 HL

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

93.36 yr (34,098 d)

Aphelion

3.5511 AU

Perihelion

2.2215 AU

Semi major axis

2.8863 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.90 yr (1,791 d)

Mean anomaly

323.09 °

Mean motion

0° 12 3.6 / day

Inclination

12.985°

Longitude of ascending node

255.74°

Argument of perihelion

277.16°

Dimensions

48.0 km × 48.0 km

Mean diameter

47.50 ± 3.4 km , 47.741 ± 0.163 km , 48.92 ± 0.98 km

via Wikipedia infobox