Q157752

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

30 August 1918

Alternative designations

1918 EE; A905 VD;, 1941 MH; 1948 VJ;, 1970 EP1

Observation arc

110.41 yr (40327 days)

Aphelion

2.7163 AU (406.35 Gm )

Perihelion

1.7334 AU (259.31 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.2249 AU (332.84 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.32 yr (1212.1 d )

Mean anomaly

190.89 °

Mean motion

0° 17 49.2 / day

Inclination

3.4446°

Longitude of ascending node

265.188°

Argument of perihelion

68.076°

Earth moid

0.72603 AU (108.613 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.64986 AU (396.413 Gm)

Synodic rotation period

3.1363 h (0.13068 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.21

Orbital period

1212.567632198018

via Wikidata · CC0