Q137519

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

G. Neujmin

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

18 April 1933

Named after

Dolores Ibárruri , (Spanish communists)

Alternative designations

1933 HA · 1925 SE, 1929 NB · 1942 JA, 1951 PB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

84.05 yr (30,699 days)

Aphelion

3.3418 AU

Perihelion

2.0598 AU

Semi major axis

2.7008 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.44 yr (1,621 days)

Mean anomaly

315.34 °

Mean motion

0° 13 19.56 / day

Inclination

6.9674°

Longitude of ascending node

247.04°

Argument of perihelion

46.992°

Mean diameter

23.72 ± 7.44 km , 27.05 ± 0.90 km , 27.64 ± 2.2 km , 32.587 ± 0.802 km , 32.59 ± 0.80 km

Synodic rotation period

17.19 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox