Q112338

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

Discovery date

20 March 1907

Alternative designations

1907 ZC

Observation arc

101.00 yr (36889 d)

Aphelion

2.9633 AU (443.30 Gm )

Perihelion

2.2819 AU (341.37 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6226 AU (392.34 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.25 yr (1551.3 d )

Mean anomaly

314.963 °

Mean motion

0° 13 55.416 / day

Inclination

8.6163°

Longitude of ascending node

265.120°

Argument of perihelion

227.772°

Earth moid

1.30547 AU (195.296 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.15762 AU (322.775 Gm)

Mean radius

30.365 ± 0.7 km

Synodic rotation period

9.17 h (0.382 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

61.804

Orbital period

1551.055554858403

via Wikidata · CC0