Q151712

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

Auguste Charlois

Discovery date

14 December 1892

Pronunciation

/ ˌ ɔːr n ə ˈ m ɛ n t ə /

Alternative designations

1892 U

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

123.34 yr (45051 d)

Aphelion

3.6041 AU (539.17 Gm )

Perihelion

2.61365 AU (390.996 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.10885 AU (465.077 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.48 yr (2002.2 d )

Mean anomaly

177.109 °

Mean motion

0° 10 47.316 / day

Inclination

24.894°

Longitude of ascending node

90.106°

Argument of perihelion

338.34°

Dimensions

118.35 ± 4.5 km

Synodic rotation period

9.178 h (0.3824 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0566 ± 0.005

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

351 Yrsa

Follows

349 Dembowska

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

128.729

Orbital period

2001.23759729414

Image

350Ornamenta (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0