618 Elfriede

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

K. Lohnert

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

17 October 1906

Pronunciation

German: [ ɛlˈfʁiːdə ]

Alternative designations

1906 VZ

Observation arc

109.50 yr (39996 d)

Aphelion

3.4223 AU (511.97 Gm )

Perihelion

2.9551 AU (442.08 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1887 AU (477.02 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.69 yr (2079.8 d )

Mean anomaly

142.019 °

Mean motion

0° 10 23.124 / day

Inclination

17.037°

Longitude of ascending node

111.070°

Argument of perihelion

228.138°

Mean radius

60.145 ± 2.5 km

Synodic rotation period

14.795 h (0.6165 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0606 ± 0.005

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

131.292

Orbital period

2081.847612591911

via Wikidata · CC0