Q145667

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. Wild

Discovery site

Zimmerwald Obs.

Discovery date

5 September 1972

Named after

Robert A. Naef , (amateur astronomer)

Alternative designations

1972 RC · 1943 VF, 1952 DG 1 · 1965 WF

Minor planet category

main-belt · Vestoid

Observation arc

51.33 yr (18,749 days)

Aphelion

2.6944 AU

Perihelion

2.0517 AU

Semi major axis

2.3731 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.66 yr (1,335 days)

Mean anomaly

94.839 °

Mean motion

0° 16 10.56 / day

Inclination

6.4757°

Longitude of ascending node

354.84°

Argument of perihelion

14.485°

Dimensions

6.64 km (calculated) , 7.923 ± 0.090 , 8.057 ± 0.083 km

Synodic rotation period

11.008 18 ± 0.000 01 h , 11.009 ± 0.0012 h , 11.0090 ± 0.0002 h , 11.03 ± 0.02 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

7.923

Orbital period

1335.085501856134

Image

001906-asteroid shape model (1906) Naef.png

via Wikidata · CC0