Q11565

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

V. Albitzkij

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

23 June 1924

Named after

Olimpiada Albitskaya , (discoverer's mother)

Alternative designations

1924 RT · 1928 FQ, 1948 QO · 1957 OC, 1961 JF · 1962 QK, A910 NA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

106.79 yr (39,006 d)

Aphelion

3.2959 AU

Perihelion

2.3144 AU

Semi major axis

2.8051 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.70 yr (1,716 d)

Mean anomaly

10.487 °

Mean motion

0° 12 35.28 / day

Inclination

21.054°

Longitude of ascending node

111.97°

Argument of perihelion

124.74°

Mean diameter

26.39 ± 2.2 km , 26.65 km (derived) , 32.88 ± 0.76 km , 34.30 ± 0.99 km

Synodic rotation period

3.822 ± 0.006 h , 3.833 ± 0.005 h , 3.8331 ± 0.0006 h , 3.833 59 ± 0.000 05 h , 3.834 ± 0.001 h , 3.835 ± 0.0016 h , 4.589 ± 0.002 h (retracted)

via Wikipedia infobox