Q691058

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

Z. Vávrová

Discovery site

Kleť Obs.

Discovery date

3 October 1980

Named after

Jim Corbett , (Hunter and author)

Alternative designations

1980 TO · 1928 RA, 1942 GE · 1951 YN 1 , 1954 QO · 1971 BB 3 , 1976 QZ

Minor planet category

main-belt · Vestoid

Observation arc

74.50 yr (27,210 days)

Aphelion

2.6677 AU

Perihelion

2.1081 AU

Semi major axis

2.3879 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.69 yr (1,348 days)

Mean anomaly

75.911 °

Mean motion

0° 16 1.56 / day

Inclination

5.0957°

Longitude of ascending node

190.64°

Argument of perihelion

104.22°

Dimensions

8.327 ± 0.384 km , 8.57 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

10 h , 11.453 ± 0.1173 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

8.327

Orbital period

1348.907295154883

via Wikidata · CC0