Q149938

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

Y. Väisälä

Discovery site

Turku Obs.

Discovery date

24 February 1938

Named after

Aavasaksa , (hill in Finnish Lapland)

Alternative designations

1938 DF 1 · 1952 KM, 1955 DH · 1977 SX 1 , 1979 FP 2 · A916 WA

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

79.20 yr (28,927 days)

Aphelion

2.4553 AU

Perihelion

2.0636 AU

Semi major axis

2.2594 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.40 yr (1,240 days)

Mean anomaly

204.08 °

Mean motion

0° 17 24.72 / day

Inclination

3.4446°

Longitude of ascending node

54.033°

Argument of perihelion

45.844°

Dimensions

8.19 km (calculated) , 8.371 ± 0.096 km

Synodic rotation period

24 h

via Wikipedia infobox