Q137874

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

Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters

Discovery site

Litchfield Observatory

Discovery date

24 May 1873

Pronunciation

/ ˈ v ɑː l ə /

Named after

vǫlva

Alternative designations

A873 KA; 1945 KA;, 1952 DS 3 ; 1953 QE

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

152.54 yr

Aphelion

2.60 AU (389.00 Gm )

Perihelion

2.26 AU (338.50 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.43 AU (363.75 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.79 yr (1,384.89 d )

Average orbital speed

19.08 km/s

Mean anomaly

92.165°

Mean motion

0° 15 35.784 / day

Inclination

4.9632°

Longitude of ascending node

65.556°

Argument of perihelion

161.388°

via Wikipedia infobox