Q114615

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

P. Melotte

Discovery site

Greenwich

Discovery date

16 January 1909

Pronunciation

/ m ɪ ˈ l ɪ t ə /

Alternative designations

1909 FN

Observation arc

107.22 yr (39162 d)

Aphelion

3.4406 AU (514.71 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6948 AU (403.14 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0677 AU (458.92 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.37 yr (1962.6 d )

Mean anomaly

210.814 °

Mean motion

0° 11 0.348 / day

Inclination

12.854°

Longitude of ascending node

150.359°

Argument of perihelion

183.282°

Mean radius

39.995 ± 0.7 km

Synodic rotation period

7.87 h (0.328 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0526 ± 0.002

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

78.369

Orbital period

1962.023286616594

via Wikidata · CC0