636 Erika

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

Joel Hastings Metcalf

Discovery site

Taunton, Massachusetts

Discovery date

8 February 1907

Alternative designations

1907 XP

Observation arc

109.17 yr (39874 d)

Aphelion

3.4121 AU (510.44 Gm )

Perihelion

2.4133 AU (361.02 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.9127 AU (435.73 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.97 yr (1815.7 d )

Mean anomaly

182.784 °

Mean motion

0° 11 53.772 / day

Inclination

7.9270°

Longitude of ascending node

34.644°

Argument of perihelion

297.818°

Mean radius

37.145 ± 3.35 km

Synodic rotation period

14.603 h (0.6085 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0507 ± 0.011

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q156043

Follows

Q156028

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

73.147

Orbital period

1817.309010549041

via Wikidata · CC0