Q152978

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

7 September 1896

Alternative designations

1896 CY

Minor planet category

Main belt ( Cybele )

Observation arc

115.96 yr (42353 d)

Aphelion

3.5216 AU (526.82 Gm )

Perihelion

3.3110 AU (495.32 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.4163 AU (511.07 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

6.31 yr (2306.4 d )

Mean anomaly

220.0218 °

Mean motion

0° 9 21.924 / day

Inclination

6.6874°

Longitude of ascending node

242.661°

Argument of perihelion

236.020°

Earth moid

2.33214 AU (348.883 Gm)

Jupiter moid

1.58341 AU (236.875 Gm)

Dimensions

141.25 ± 6.9 km , 141.54 ± 2.08 km

Mass

(1.48 ± 0.09) × 10 kg

via Wikipedia infobox