Q139071

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

5 July 1937

Named after

Mombasa (city, port)

Alternative designations

1937 NO · 1933 WO, 1949 FA · 1957 YZ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

82.74 yr (30,219 days)

Aphelion

3.2039 AU

Perihelion

2.4154 AU

Semi major axis

2.8096 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.71 yr (1,720 days)

Mean anomaly

263.81 °

Mean motion

0° 12 33.48 / day

Inclination

17.305°

Longitude of ascending node

115.72°

Argument of perihelion

252.61°

Dimensions

52.464 ± 0.268 km , 53.35 ± 13.28 km , 55.34 ± 0.70 km , 56.63 ± 2.0 km , 56.83 km (derived) , 57.59 ± 19.41 km , 62.45 ± 0.73 km , 127.203 ± 29.18 km

Synodic rotation period

16.67 ± 0.01 h , 17.12 ± 0.01 h , 17.6 ± 0.2 h

via Wikipedia infobox