Q142409

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

8 November 1948

Named after

Karl Mayrhofer, ( amateur astronomer )

Alternative designations

1948 VB · 1932 WN, 1953 VC 2 · 1956 GN

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

84.11 yr (30,723 days)

Aphelion

3.3376 AU

Perihelion

2.7395 AU

Semi major axis

3.0386 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.30 yr (1,935 days)

Mean anomaly

24.198 °

Mean motion

0° 11 9.96 / day

Inclination

13.049°

Longitude of ascending node

230.45°

Argument of perihelion

156.46°

Dimensions

31.18 ± 0.49 km , 31.198 ± 7.539 km , 31.63 km (derived) , 31.71 ± 2.0 km , 33.810 ± 1.378 km

Synodic rotation period

19.0808 ± 0.1110 h , 22.194 ± 0.004 h

via Wikipedia infobox