Q844731

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

L. V. Zhuravleva

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

18 August 1972

Named after

Lev Zyskin (surgeon)

Alternative designations

1972 QE · 1934 NE, 1957 QH

Minor planet category

main-belt · Vestoid

Observation arc

58.80 yr (21,476 days)

Aphelion

2.7306 AU

Perihelion

2.1167 AU

Semi major axis

2.4236 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.77 yr (1,378 days)

Mean anomaly

338.14 °

Inclination

6.4956°

Longitude of ascending node

337.74°

Argument of perihelion

354.48°

Dimensions

8.91 km (calculated) , 10.44 ± 2.92 km , 11.35 ± 0.20 km , 12.731 ± 0.185 km , 12.774 ± 0.047 km

Synodic rotation period

3.9201 ± 0.0007 h

Geometric albedo

0.1084 ± 0.0164 , 0.165 ± 0.028 , 0.18 ± 0.08 , 0.20 (assumed)

via Wikipedia infobox