Q154525

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

M. F. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

22 October 1900

Named after

Signy , Norse mythology

Alternative designations

1900 FM

Minor planet category

main belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

116.70 yr (42,624 days)

Aphelion

3.1716 AU

Perihelion

2.0727 AU

Semi major axis

2.6222 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.25 yr (1,551 days)

Mean anomaly

182.92 °

Mean motion

0° 13 55.56 / day

Inclination

10.302°

Longitude of ascending node

29.497°

Argument of perihelion

19.410°

Dimensions

29.32 ± 2.4 km

Synodic rotation period

5.5362 h (0.23068 d )

via Wikipedia infobox