180 Garumna

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

J. Perrotin

Discovery date

29 January 1878

Pronunciation

/ ɡ ə ˈ r ʌ m n ə /

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

96.73 yr (35331 d)

Aphelion

3.1722 AU (474.55 Gm )

Perihelion

2.2739 AU (340.17 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7231 AU (407.37 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.49 yr (1641.3 d )

Mean anomaly

301.92 °

Mean motion

0° 13 9.624 / day

Inclination

0.86595°

Longitude of ascending node

312.18°

Argument of perihelion

175.87°

Earth moid

1.28761 AU (192.624 Gm)

Jupiter moid

1.89216 AU (283.063 Gm)

Synodic rotation period

23.866 h (0.9944 d )

Spectral type

S

via Wikipedia infobox