Q157398

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

Gyllenberg, K., Bergedorf

Discovery date

26 November 1916

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

99.23 yr (36245 d)

Aphelion

3.6963 AU (552.96 Gm ) (Q)

Perihelion

2.5562 AU (382.40 Gm) (q)

Semi major axis

3.1262 AU (467.67 Gm) (a)

Eccentricity

0.18235 (e)

Orbital period sidereal

5.53 yr (2019.0 d )

Mean anomaly

27.575 ° (M)

Mean motion

0° 10 41.916 / day (n)

Inclination

0.26427° (i)

Longitude of ascending node

261.44° (Ω)

Argument of perihelion

129.22° (ω)

Mean radius

26.205 ± 0.7 km ( IRAS )

Mass

1.5 × 10 kg (assumed)

Synodic rotation period

1,641 h (68.4 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0506 ± 0.003

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

52.41

Mass

150

Orbital period

2026.812774827819

via Wikidata · CC0