Q157621

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

S. Belyavskyj

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

23 September 1917

Named after

Ulrike von Levetzow , (friend and love of Goethe )

Alternative designations

1917 CX · 1933 QQ, 1934 XL · A906 SE, 1917 CX · 1906 SE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background · Themis

Observation arc

112.98 yr (41,267 d)

Aphelion

3.6720 AU

Perihelion

2.5253 AU

Semi major axis

3.0987 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.45 yr (1,992 d)

Mean anomaly

318.39 °

Mean motion

0° 10 50.52 / day

Inclination

3.3056°

Longitude of ascending node

148.90°

Argument of perihelion

203.78°

Mean diameter

30.537 ± 0.756 km 33.43 ± 5.3 km 44.69 ± 1.06 km

Synodic rotation period

4.90 ± 0.05 h

via Wikipedia infobox