Q137702

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

7 January 1934

Named after

Quadea (parents-in-law of the discoverer's brother)

Alternative designations

1934 AD · 1927 VB, 1929 CA 1 · 1929 EJ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos

Observation arc

89.31 yr (32,619 days)

Aphelion

3.2383 AU

Perihelion

2.8024 AU

Semi major axis

3.0203 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.25 yr (1,917 days)

Mean anomaly

30.780 °

Mean motion

0° 11 16.08 / day

Inclination

9.0027°

Longitude of ascending node

295.94°

Argument of perihelion

123.49°

Dimensions

19.62 ± 1.00 km , 22.420 ± 0.255 km , 23.408 ± 0.216 km , 23.47 km (calculated) , 24.77 ± 0.49 km

Synodic rotation period

6.256 ± 0.005 h , 6.267 ± 0.001 h , 6.267 ± 0.005 h , 6.268 ± 0.0012 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

22.42

Orbital period

1919.730467600187

via Wikidata · CC0