Q156816

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 site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

16 September 1912

Alternative designations

1912 PF

Observation arc

107.15 yr (39135 d)

Aphelion

3.5997 AU (538.51 Gm )

Perihelion

3.1941 AU (477.83 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.3969 AU (508.17 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

6.26 yr (2286.8 d )

Mean anomaly

58.5163 °

Mean motion

0° 9 26.712 / day

Inclination

20.294°

Longitude of ascending node

341.005°

Argument of perihelion

189.934°

Mean radius

44.355 ± 3.45 km

Synodic rotation period

11.374 h (0.4739 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0539 ± 0.009

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q156824

Follows

732 Tjilaki

Parent body

Sun

Diameter

98.493

Orbital period

2285.196726568498

via Wikidata · CC0