652 Jubilatrix

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. Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna

Discovery date

4 November 1907

Pronunciation

/ ˈ dʒ uː b ɪ l eɪ t r ɪ k s /

Alternative designations

1907 AU

Observation arc

107.23 yr (39,167 d)

Aphelion

2.8787 AU (430.65 Gm )

Perihelion

2.2303 AU (333.65 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.5545 AU (382.15 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.08 yr (1,491.3 d)

Mean anomaly

263.74 °

Mean motion

0° 14 29.04 / day

Inclination

15.743°

Longitude of ascending node

86.195°

Argument of perihelion

277.192°

Earth moid

1.29279 AU (193.399 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.62703 AU (392.998 Gm)

Mean radius

8.435 ± 0.8 km

via Wikipedia infobox