Q844942

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

A. R. Klemola

Discovery site

Lick Obs.

Discovery date

2 May 1973

Named after

Stanislavs Vasilevskis, (astronomer; staff member)

Alternative designations

1973 JA

Minor planet category

main-belt · Phocaea

Observation arc

44.00 yr (16,072 days)

Aphelion

3.0908 AU

Perihelion

1.7134 AU

Semi major axis

2.4021 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.72 yr (1,360 days)

Mean anomaly

295.50 °

Mean motion

0° 15 52.92 / day

Inclination

21.376°

Longitude of ascending node

204.09°

Argument of perihelion

82.819°

Mean diameter

9.044 ± 0.043 km , 9.071 ± 0.051 km , 11.84 ± 0.81 km

Synodic rotation period

15.6 ± 0.1 h , 32.16 ± 0.02 h , 36.25 h , 39 ± 2 h

via Wikipedia infobox