Q142411

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

P. M. Henry , 1876

Discovery date

28 September 1876

Named after

Zelia Martin

Alternative designations

A876 SB; 1933 FC 2

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

131.26 yr (47944 d)

Aphelion

2.6662 AU (398.86 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0511 AU (306.84 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.3586 AU (352.84 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.62 yr (1323.1 d )

Mean anomaly

249.62 °

Mean motion

0° 16 19.524 / day

Inclination

5.5001°

Longitude of ascending node

354.77°

Argument of perihelion

334.90°

Earth moid

1.04119 AU (155.760 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.65309 AU (396.897 Gm)

Mean radius

16.80 ± 1.3 km , 19.3 ± 0.45 km

via Wikipedia infobox