Q549515

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

B. Burnasheva

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

9 October 1969

Named after

Albina Serova (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1969 TC 3 · 1929 TB, 1936 TL · 1938 BE, 1939 DE · 1942 RV, 1949 SC 1 · 1950 YA, 1952 DU 1 · 1968 OT, 1972 BJ · 1975 QR, 1975 RG · 1979 FK 2 , 1983 VR 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

87.30 yr (31,887 days)

Aphelion

3.8438 AU

Perihelion

3.2798 AU

Semi major axis

3.5618 AU

Orbital period sidereal

6.72 yr (2,455 days)

Mean anomaly

14.298 °

Mean motion

0° 8 47.76 / day

Inclination

3.5811°

Longitude of ascending node

270.95°

Argument of perihelion

132.11°

Dimensions

51.36 km (derived) , 51.54 ± 1.4 km ( IRAS :16) , 52.74 ± 0.93 km

Synodic rotation period

9.6 h , 16.5871 ± 0.0165 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

51.54

Orbital period

2454.40832769368

via Wikidata · CC0