Q156303

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

24 June 1908

Alternative designations

1908 DG

Observation arc

107.39 yr (39224 d)

Aphelion

3.5174 AU (526.20 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6209 AU (392.08 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0691 AU (459.13 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.38 yr (1963.9 d )

Mean anomaly

135.977 °

Mean motion

0° 10 59.916 / day

Inclination

17.820°

Longitude of ascending node

232.869°

Argument of perihelion

310.954°

Mean radius

50.44 ± 1.5 km

Synodic rotation period

10.251 h (0.4271 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0359 ± 0.002

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q156313

Follows

662 Newtonia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

107.795

Orbital period

1958.750814424437

via Wikidata · CC0