Q157492

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

9 February 1917

Pronunciation

/ b ɛ ŋ ˈ k uː l ə /

Alternative designations

1917 BH

Observation arc

99.11 yr (36199 days)

Aphelion

3.2950 AU (492.92 Gm )

Perihelion

3.1059 AU (464.64 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.2004 AU (478.77 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.73 yr (2091.3 d )

Mean anomaly

52.959 °

Mean motion

0° 10 19.704 / day

Inclination

25.418°

Longitude of ascending node

116.948°

Argument of perihelion

95.689°

Earth moid

2.15664 AU (322.629 Gm)

Jupiter moid

1.91339 AU (286.239 Gm)

Mean radius

13.53 ± 0.75 km

via Wikipedia infobox