Q146069

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

R. Suvanto

Discovery site

Turku Obs.

Discovery date

18 March 1936

Named after

Rafael Suvanto , (discoverer; posthumous)

Alternative designations

1936 FP · 1930 XN

Minor planet category

main-belt · Eunomia

Observation arc

86.21 yr (31,487 days)

Aphelion

3.0392 AU

Perihelion

2.2631 AU

Semi major axis

2.6512 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.32 yr (1,577 days)

Mean anomaly

352.49 °

Mean motion

0° 13 41.88 / day

Inclination

13.372°

Longitude of ascending node

27.146°

Argument of perihelion

95.875°

Dimensions

11.55 km (calculated) , 11.841 ± 0.188 km , 12.42 ± 1.28 km , 12.494 ± 0.155 km

Synodic rotation period

8.163 ± 0.003 h , 8.164 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox