Q845563

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

T. Smirnova

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

14 December 1971

Named after

Pyatiletka, ( Five-year plans of the USSR )

Alternative designations

1971 XB · 1950 BE 1 , 1950 DX · 1951 KB 1 , 1954 DA · 1961 AL, 1969 EV 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

63.18 yr (23,075 days)

Aphelion

2.4729 AU

Perihelion

2.3310 AU

Semi major axis

2.4019 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.72 yr (1,360 days)

Mean anomaly

197.74 °

Mean motion

0° 15 53.28 / day

Inclination

7.8981°

Longitude of ascending node

105.50°

Argument of perihelion

236.47°

Dimensions

10.75 km (calculated) , 11.00 ± 0.83 km , 11.084 ± 0.101 km , 11.554 ± 0.074 km

Synodic rotation period

8.899 ± 0.0053 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

11.084

Orbital period

1359.503744835951

via Wikidata · CC0