Q143649

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

A. Kopff

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

12 September 1906

Named after

Otto Kippes , (priest and astronomer)

Alternative designations

A906 RA · 1935 CC, 1938 UC 1 · 1943 TL, 1943 VD · 1947 NB, 1951 ED 2 · 1953 SA, 1957 LD · 1962 JU, 1969 RB 2 · 1975 VL 6 , A911 QE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos

Observation arc

110.38 yr (40,315 days)

Aphelion

3.1792 AU

Perihelion

2.8538 AU

Semi major axis

3.0165 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.24 yr (1,914 days)

Mean anomaly

147.84 °

Mean motion

0° 11 17.16 / day

Inclination

9.0022°

Longitude of ascending node

290.98°

Argument of perihelion

340.31°

Dimensions

25.77 ± 0.80 km , 27.92 ± 1.8 km , 28.164 ± 0.241 km , 29.16 ± 0.38 km , 31.262 ± 0.341 km

Synodic rotation period

18.0 h

via Wikipedia infobox