Q156028

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

K. Lohnert

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

9 June 1907

Alternative designations

1907 ZS

Observation arc

108.85 yr (39759 d)

Aphelion

3.3817 AU (505.90 Gm )

Perihelion

2.9029 AU (434.27 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1423 AU (470.08 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.57 yr (2034.6 d )

Mean anomaly

80.707 °

Mean motion

0° 10 36.984 / day

Inclination

11.030°

Longitude of ascending node

183.060°

Argument of perihelion

224.045°

Mean radius

47.21 ± 0.25 km

Synodic rotation period

11.790 h (0.4913 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0456 ± 0.002

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Wilhelm Wundt

Followed by

636 Erika

Follows

Q156016

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

94.415

Orbital period

2033.405802124778

via Wikidata · CC0