915 Cosette

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

F. Gonnessiat

Discovery site

Algiers

Discovery date

14 December 1918

Alternative designations

1918 b; 1933 FB2

Observation arc

97.34 yr (35552 days)

Aphelion

2.5394 AU (379.89 Gm )

Perihelion

1.9162 AU (286.66 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.2278 AU (333.27 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.33 yr (1214.6 d )

Mean anomaly

159.63 °

Mean motion

0° 17 47.04 / day

Inclination

5.5465°

Longitude of ascending node

9.3442°

Argument of perihelion

39.577°

Earth moid

0.927919 AU (138.8147 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.8317 AU (423.62 Gm)

Synodic rotation period

4.445 h (0.1852 d )

via Wikipedia infobox