Q151311

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

19 March 1892

Alternative designations

A896 BA, A922 XA

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

124.05 yr (45308 d)

Aphelion

3.0216 AU (452.02 Gm )

Perihelion

2.5269 AU (378.02 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7742 AU (415.01 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.62 yr (1687.8 d )

Mean anomaly

186.290 °

Mean motion

0° 12 47.88 / day

Inclination

2.8473°

Longitude of ascending node

31.575°

Argument of perihelion

296.463°

Dimensions

40.37 ± 1.8 km

Synodic rotation period

8.0074 h (0.33364 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1719 ± 0.017

via Wikipedia infobox