Q140553

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. Strommer

Discovery site

Konkoly Obs.

Discovery date

27 August 1940

Named after

Transylvania , (region in Romania)

Alternative designations

1940 QA · 1940 QN, A903 VB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

113.42 yr (41,428 days)

Aphelion

3.9677 AU

Perihelion

2.1361 AU

Semi major axis

3.0519 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.33 yr (1,947 days)

Mean anomaly

143.95 °

Mean motion

0° 11 5.64 / day

Inclination

3.8591°

Longitude of ascending node

230.07°

Argument of perihelion

148.20°

Dimensions

13.60 km (derived) , 13.77 ± 1.5 km , 17.48 ± 1.16 km , 20.288 ± 0.256 km , 20.29 ± 0.26 km , 21.49 ± 1.58 km

Synodic rotation period

12 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

20.288

Orbital period

1954.82588879428

via Wikidata · CC0