Q142608

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. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

2 September 1930

Named after

Roger Barry (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1930 RB · 1939 FD, 1940 TP · 1943 PA, 1953 PK · 1963 SB

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

86.57 yr (31,620 days)

Aphelion

2.5955 AU

Perihelion

1.8331 AU

Semi major axis

2.2143 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.30 yr (1,204 days)

Mean anomaly

155.09 °

Mean motion

0° 17 56.76 / day

Inclination

4.5196°

Longitude of ascending node

112.28°

Argument of perihelion

213.42°

Dimensions

9.21 ± 0.49 km , 9.41 ± 0.5 km , 9.50 ± 0.24 km , 9.54 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

105.7450 ± 1.8907 h , 107.04 ± 0.05 h , 107.1 ± 0.5 h

via Wikipedia infobox