Q11555

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

3 March 1924

Named after

Arnold Berliner , (German physicist)

Alternative designations

1924 QM · 1926 VK, 1952 BV 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( central )

Observation arc

93.34 yr (34,092 days)

Aphelion

3.1649 AU

Perihelion

1.9180 AU

Semi major axis

2.5414 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.05 yr (1,480 days)

Mean anomaly

204.40 °

Mean motion

0° 14 35.88 / day

Inclination

7.6444°

Longitude of ascending node

359.70°

Argument of perihelion

342.97°

Dimensions

13.68 ± 2.45 km , 15.29 ± 0.53 km , 16.387 ± 0.100 km , 16.42 ± 1.5 km , 16.44 km (derived) , 16.557 ± 0.224 km

Synodic rotation period

10 h (unrated) , 11.97 h (dated) , 12.18 ± 0.01 h , 14.57 ± 0.01 h , 14.617 ± 0.004 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

16.557

Orbital period

1478.440717594536

via Wikidata · CC0