Q158404

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

Johann Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna

Discovery date

27 March 1922

Pronunciation

/ p ər s ɛ v ə ˈ r æ n ʃ i ə /

Alternative designations

1922 LT

Observation arc

94.00 yr (34333 days)

Aphelion

2.9205 AU (436.90 Gm )

Perihelion

2.7459 AU (410.78 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.8332 AU (423.84 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.77 yr (1741.8 d )

Mean anomaly

5.31402 °

Mean motion

0° 12 24.048 / day

Inclination

2.5597°

Longitude of ascending node

38.717°

Argument of perihelion

56.640°

Mean radius

13.245 ± 0.85 km

Synodic rotation period

7.267 h (0.3028 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1726 ± 0.024

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

22.169

Orbital period

1743.022767257794

via Wikidata · CC0