Q907343

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

13 August 1966

Named after

Mikhail Efimov (Russian aviator)

Alternative designations

1966 PD · 1933 WF, 1966 RB · 1973 YR 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

66.15 yr (24,160 days)

Aphelion

2.7464 AU

Perihelion

1.7085 AU

Semi major axis

2.2274 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.32 yr (1,214 days)

Mean anomaly

100.35 °

Mean motion

0° 17 47.4 / day

Inclination

5.7096°

Longitude of ascending node

275.17°

Argument of perihelion

91.098°

Dimensions

4.98 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

2.44967 h (0.102070 d )

via Wikipedia infobox