Q148566

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

J. Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna Observatory

Discovery date

19 August 1882

Named after

daughter of astronomer , Theodor v. Oppolzer

Alternative designations

A882 QA

Minor planet category

main-belt

Observation arc

130.80 yr

Aphelion

2.73 AU (408 million km )

Perihelion

1.67 AU (250 million km)

Semi major axis

2.20 AU (329 million km)

Orbital period sidereal

3.27 yr (1193.1 d )

Mean anomaly

63.67 °

Mean motion

0° 18 6.408 / day

Inclination

2.5359°

Longitude of ascending node

313.25°

Argument of perihelion

19.177°

Earth moid

0.657 AU (98.3 million km)

Mars moid

0.29 AU (43 million km)

via Wikipedia infobox