Q918806

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

N. Chernykh

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

24 September 1979

Named after

Kursk (Russian city)

Alternative designations

1979 SW 11 · 1969 VG 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

47.38 yr (17,305 days)

Aphelion

2.5475 AU

Perihelion

1.9375 AU

Semi major axis

2.2425 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.36 yr (1,227 days)

Mean anomaly

64.484 °

Mean motion

0° 17 36.6 / day

Inclination

5.0362°

Longitude of ascending node

204.11°

Argument of perihelion

232.21°

Known satellites

1 (D: 1.67 km

Dimensions

4.67 km (derived)

via Wikipedia infobox