Q143191

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

23 September 1949

Pronunciation

/ ˈ t ɛ l ə m ɒ n /

Named after

Telamon , (Greek mythology)

Alternative designations

1949 SB · 1941 BP, 1966 CN

Minor planet category

Jupiter trojan , Greek · background

Adjectives

Telamonian

Observation arc

68.67 yr (25,081 d)

Aphelion

5.7006 AU

Perihelion

4.5987 AU

Semi major axis

5.1497 AU

Orbital period sidereal

11.69 yr (4,268 d)

Mean anomaly

189.63 °

Mean motion

0° 5 3.48 / day

Inclination

6.0943°

Longitude of ascending node

340.87°

Argument of perihelion

113.06°

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

64.898

Orbital period

4256.494144344967

via Wikidata · CC0