Q784240

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

7 February 1938

Named after

Richard M. West , (Danish astronomer)

Alternative designations

1938 CK · 1949 TA, 1973 AP

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

79.12 yr (28,897 days)

Aphelion

3.0268 AU

Perihelion

2.3840 AU

Semi major axis

2.7054 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.45 yr (1,625 days)

Mean anomaly

61.733 °

Mean motion

0° 13 17.4 / day

Inclination

5.6594°

Longitude of ascending node

2.5076°

Argument of perihelion

37.063°

Dimensions

11.04 ± 0.83 km , 12.634 ± 0.341 km , 12.916 ± 0.133 km , 26.64 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

14.14 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

12.634

Orbital period

1625.82464119094

via Wikidata · CC0