Q114673

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

22 February 1908

Pronunciation

/ ˈ k l iː l i ə /

Alternative designations

1908 CL

Observation arc

97.95 yr (35777 d)

Aphelion

3.1190 AU (466.60 Gm )

Perihelion

2.9143 AU (435.97 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0166 AU (451.28 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.24 yr (1913.7 d )

Mean anomaly

248.593 °

Mean motion

0° 11 17.232 / day

Inclination

9.2315°

Longitude of ascending node

335.823°

Argument of perihelion

181.133°

Mean radius

24.025 ± 0.75 km

Synodic rotation period

5.536 h (0.2307 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1076 ± 0.007

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

40.081

Orbital period

1912.602227373202

Image

Орбита астероида 661.png

via Wikidata · CC0