Q158014

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

4 September 1919

Named after

Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote

Alternative designations

A919 RD · 1919 FV, 1976 WM

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

100.34 yr (36,649 d)

Aphelion

3.7546 AU

Perihelion

2.5844 AU

Semi major axis

3.1695 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.64 yr (2,061 d)

Mean anomaly

331.19 °

Mean motion

0° 10 28.92 / day

Inclination

16.336°

Longitude of ascending node

204.91°

Argument of perihelion

70.912°

Mean diameter

55.312 ± 0.200 km 58.48 ± 2.4 km 60.71 ± 0.97 km

Synodic rotation period

15.64 ± 0.02 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

55.312

Orbital period

2058.238776828473

via Wikidata · CC0