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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

G. Neujmin

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

27 March 1916

Named after

unknown

Alternative designations

A916 FH · A904 UB, 1916 ZL · 1904 UB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) Bg · Flora

Observation arc

114.92 yr (41,974 d)

Aphelion

2.3937 AU

Perihelion

2.0578 AU

Semi major axis

2.2257 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.32 yr (1,213 d)

Mean anomaly

112.91 °

Mean motion

0° 17 48.48 / day

Inclination

3.3998°

Longitude of ascending node

101.41°

Argument of perihelion

111.50°

Mean diameter

11.02 ± 0.7 km 13.06 ± 0.38 km 13.423 ± 0.150 km

Synodic rotation period

6.940 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox