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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

E. Bowell

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

28 April 1982

Named after

Donald Keith Yeomans , (American astronomer)

Alternative designations

1982 HN 1 · 1950 JG, 1974 RN 1 · 1977 DL 10

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

42.45 yr (15,504 days)

Aphelion

3.0155 AU

Perihelion

2.5142 AU

Semi major axis

2.7648 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.60 yr (1,679 days)

Mean anomaly

229.98 °

Mean motion

0° 12 51.84 / day

Inclination

2.8688°

Longitude of ascending node

112.21°

Argument of perihelion

124.34°

Dimensions

9.350 ± 0.183 km , 11.30 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

3.4 ± 0.1 h , 3.509 ± 0.0158 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

9.35

Orbital period

1678.555234136033

via Wikidata · CC0