Q114646

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, Massachusetts

Discovery date

10 January 1910

Alternative designations

1910 JJ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Meliboea

Observation arc

95.46 yr (34866 d)

Aphelion

3.9660 AU (593.31 Gm )

Perihelion

2.3753 AU (355.34 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1707 AU (474.33 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.65 yr (2062.2 d )

Mean anomaly

307.652 °

Mean motion

0° 10 28.452 / day

Inclination

13.036°

Longitude of ascending node

299.519°

Argument of perihelion

104.093°

Mean radius

37.88 ± 1 km

Synodic rotation period

26.8964 h (1.12068 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0773 ± 0.004

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

81.58

Orbital period

2066.456453777198

via Wikidata · CC0