Q144680

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

E. Delporte

Discovery site

Uccle Obs.

Discovery date

18 August 1933

Named after

(sister-in-law of) , Georges Roland

Alternative designations

1933 QD · 1936 DH, 1948 SF · 1948 SK, 1951 GV · 1952 ML, 1953 TU 1 · 1953 VE 1 , 1956 GL · 1972 QN, 1975 FV · A912 FA

Minor planet category

main-belt · Koronis

Observation arc

83.47 yr (30,486 days)

Aphelion

3.0019 AU

Perihelion

2.7407 AU

Semi major axis

2.8713 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.87 yr (1,777 days)

Mean anomaly

138.35 °

Mean motion

0° 12 9.36 / day

Inclination

1.4404°

Longitude of ascending node

331.66°

Argument of perihelion

316.61°

Dimensions

16.66 ± 1.95 km , 17.030 ± 0.114 , 17.12 km (calculated) , 17.446 ± 0.143 km , 17.51 ± 0.63 km

Synodic rotation period

3.637 h (adopted) , 3.638 ± 0.001 h , 3.639 ± 0.001 h , 3.639 ± 0.001 h , 3.65 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox