Q158122

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

9 September 1920

Named after

Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote

Alternative designations

A920 RC · 1948 RJ, 1920 HQ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis

Observation arc

99.32 yr (36,278 d)

Aphelion

3.7644 AU

Perihelion

2.5322 AU

Semi major axis

3.1483 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.59 yr (2,040 d)

Mean anomaly

265.87 °

Mean motion

0° 10 35.04 / day

Inclination

2.6698°

Longitude of ascending node

119.07°

Argument of perihelion

225.87°

Mean diameter

23.70 ± 1.62 km 26.79 ± 2.5 km 33.466 ± 0.164 km

Synodic rotation period

13.702 ± 0.003 h 19.204 ± 0.006 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

33.466

Orbital period

2043.101175208695

via Wikidata · CC0