Q752794

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

2 September 1929

Named after

Granada , (Spanish city and province)

Alternative designations

1929 RD · 1931 AR, 1940 RS

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

87.84 yr (32,083 days)

Aphelion

2.5184 AU

Perihelion

2.2409 AU

Semi major axis

2.3797 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.67 yr (1,341 days)

Mean anomaly

35.176 °

Mean motion

0° 16 6.6 / day

Inclination

13.031°

Longitude of ascending node

347.89°

Argument of perihelion

313.33°

Dimensions

27.839 ± 0.283 km , 28.641 ± 0.460 km , 29.94 km (derived) , 29.98 ± 0.9 km , 30.14 ± 9.34 km , 30.26 ± 0.11 km , 30.26 ± 0.29 km , 34.65 ± 12.83 km

Synodic rotation period

31 h , 72.852 ± 0.2429 h

via Wikipedia infobox