Q151959

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

21 March 1893

Named after

Vincenzo Cerulli

Alternative designations

1893 W; A909 BN;, 1931 AS

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

118.13 yr (43147 d)

Aphelion

3.31800 AU (496.366 Gm )

Perihelion

2.97001 AU (444.307 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.14400 AU (470.336 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.57 yr (2036.2 d )

Mean anomaly

283.472 °

Mean motion

0° 10 36.476 / day

Inclination

10.5798°

Longitude of ascending node

346.728°

Argument of perihelion

332.371°

Dimensions

92 ± 6 km , 87 +14, −6 km

Synodic rotation period

12.7365 h (0.53069 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0800 ± 0.006

via Wikipedia infobox