Q157006

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

G. N. Neujmin

Discovery site

Simeiz Observatory

Discovery date

6 October 1913

Alternative designations

1913 TA

Observation arc

101.12 yr (36933 d)

Aphelion

3.7589 AU (562.32 Gm )

Perihelion

2.5813 AU (386.16 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1701 AU (474.24 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.64 yr (2061.6 d )

Mean anomaly

90.8697 °

Mean motion

0° 10 28.632 / day

Inclination

7.3689°

Longitude of ascending node

38.487°

Argument of perihelion

253.943°

Mean radius

53.22 ± 1.3 km , 53.135 ± 2.01 km

Mass

(6.31 ± 0.64) × 10 kg

Mean density

10.03 ± 1.52 g/cm

Synodic rotation period

35.08 h (1.462 d )

via Wikipedia infobox