Q11551

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

29 January 1924

Named after

figure in poem, by Aleksandr Pushkin

Alternative designations

1924 PW · 1932 WH, 1984 YP 6

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

93.02 yr (33,975 days)

Aphelion

3.3624 AU

Perihelion

2.2443 AU

Semi major axis

2.8034 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.69 yr (1,714 days)

Mean anomaly

332.39 °

Mean motion

0° 12 36 / day

Inclination

2.2681°

Longitude of ascending node

251.71°

Argument of perihelion

233.24°

Dimensions

14.89 ± 3.58 km , 17.17 ± 0.88 km , 17.487 ± 0.250 km , 23.21 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

5.636 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

17.487

Orbital period

1710.103418693147

via Wikidata · CC0