Q157047

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

F. Kaiser

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

24 January 1914

Named after

Johannes Gutenberg , (German inventor)

Alternative designations

A914 BF · 1926 EF, A924 YB · 1914 TZ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) background

Observation arc

105.60 yr (38,570 d)

Aphelion

3.5831 AU

Perihelion

2.8745 AU

Semi major axis

3.2288 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.80 yr (2,119 d)

Mean anomaly

79.152 °

Mean motion

0° 10 11.64 / day

Inclination

12.942°

Longitude of ascending node

283.27°

Argument of perihelion

264.44°

Dimensions

66.0 km × 66.0 km

Mean diameter

65.37 ± 1.03 km 65.57 ± 1.9 km 71.749 ± 0.095 km

via Wikipedia infobox