Q150367

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

N. G. Thomas

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

5 October 1981

Named after

Alamosa, Colorado , (discoverer's birthplace)

Alternative designations

1981 TM · 1936 OA, 1975 EN 2

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

82.26 yr (30,044 d)

Aphelion

2.9605 AU

Perihelion

2.1020 AU

Semi major axis

2.5312 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.03 yr (1,471 d)

Mean anomaly

162.56 °

Mean motion

0° 14 40.92 / day

Inclination

17.022°

Longitude of ascending node

150.47°

Argument of perihelion

189.56°

Mean diameter

11.83 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

4.3832 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Orbital period

1471.324533671053

via Wikidata · CC0