Q157759

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

J. Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna

Discovery date

3 September 1918

Pronunciation

/ ˈ p r ɒ b ɪ t æ s /

Alternative designations

1918 EJ

Observation arc

97.58 yr (35642 days)

Aphelion

2.8857 AU (431.69 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0084 AU (300.45 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.4470 AU (366.07 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.83 yr (1398.2 d )

Mean anomaly

190.000 °

Mean motion

0° 15 26.928 / day

Inclination

6.3472°

Longitude of ascending node

353.081°

Argument of perihelion

28.520°

Earth moid

1.01204 AU (151.399 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.5861 AU (386.88 Gm)

Synodic rotation period

10.117 h (0.4215 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

8.552

Orbital period

1397.807967558022

via Wikidata · CC0