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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
- C. A. Wirtanen
- Discovery site
- Lick Obs.
- Discovery date
- 14 July 1947
- Named after
- William Wright , (observatory's director)
- Alternative designations
- 1947 NH
- Minor planet category
- Mars-crosser
- Observation arc
- 69.24 yr (25,290 days)
- Aphelion
- 1.8977 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.5207 AU
- Semi major axis
- 1.7092 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 2.23 yr (816 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 174.63 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 26 27.96 / day
- Inclination
- 21.416°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 268.39°
- Argument of perihelion
- 340.43°
- Dimensions
- 5.17 ± 0.24 km , 6.35 ± 0.6 km ( IRAS :2)
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.287 96 ± 0.000 05 h , 5.2896 ± 0.0002 h , 5.290 ± 0.001 h
via Wikipedia infobox