Q152257

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 date

1 March 1894

Named after

Ilmatar

Alternative designations

1894 AX

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

122.12 yr (44604 d)

Aphelion

3.19998 AU (478.710 Gm )

Perihelion

2.50226 AU (374.333 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.85112 AU (426.521 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.81 yr (1758.4 d )

Mean anomaly

166.647 °

Mean motion

0° 12 17.024 / day

Inclination

13.5514°

Longitude of ascending node

345.021°

Argument of perihelion

187.911°

Mean diameter

83.857 ± 0.576 km

Mass

(1.039 ± 0.515/0.201) × 10 kg

Mean density

3.136 ± 1.555/0.607 g/cm

via Wikipedia infobox