Q142287

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

M. Laugier

Discovery site

Nice Obs.

Discovery date

23 November 1948

Named after

Julius Steinmetz, ( amateur astronomer )

Alternative designations

1948 WE · 1926 YA, 1936 BE · 1939 VC, 1945 ED · 1957 YH, 1958 AE · A914 DB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

103.18 yr (37,688 days)

Aphelion

3.2486 AU

Perihelion

2.1443 AU

Semi major axis

2.6965 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.43 yr (1,617 days)

Mean anomaly

169.22 °

Mean motion

0° 13 21.36 / day

Inclination

7.2063°

Longitude of ascending node

94.373°

Argument of perihelion

1.6555°

Dimensions

14.58 ± 0.75 km , 16.159 ± 0.342 km , 20.49 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

8.999 17 ± 0.000 07 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

16.159

Orbital period

1618.655737215898

Image

001681-asteroid shape model (1681) Steinmetz.png

via Wikidata · CC0