Q138463

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

31 August 1935

Named after

Helene Nowacki , ( ARI -astronomer)

Alternative designations

1935 QG

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora

Observation arc

81.46 yr (29,754 days)

Aphelion

2.6343 AU

Perihelion

1.8665 AU

Semi major axis

2.2504 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.38 yr (1,233 days)

Mean anomaly

130.52 °

Mean motion

0° 17 31.2 / day

Inclination

4.8039°

Longitude of ascending node

306.04°

Argument of perihelion

3.9960°

Dimensions

5.41 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

7.5408 h , inconclusive

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Orbital period

1232.723719175131

via Wikidata · CC0