Q155738

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

August Kopff

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

20 March 1906

Pronunciation

/ t aɪ ˈ t eɪ n i ə /

Alternative designations

1906 TT

Observation arc

109.99 yr (40173 d)

Aphelion

3.2796 AU (490.62 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1201 AU (317.16 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6998 AU (403.88 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.44 yr (1620.3 d )

Mean anomaly

6.54586 °

Mean motion

0° 13 19.848 / day

Inclination

16.884°

Longitude of ascending node

75.995°

Argument of perihelion

31.131°

Mean radius

37.66 ± 2.5 km

Synodic rotation period

9.89 h (0.412 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0604 ± 0.009

via Wikipedia infobox