Q121512

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

B. Jekhovsky

Discovery site

Algiers Obs.

Discovery date

29 October 1924

Named after

David Weill

Alternative designations

1924 TF · 1951 TS, 1958 XG · 1975 XC 5

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

92.50 yr (33,787 days)

Aphelion

2.6862 AU

Perihelion

1.8245 AU

Semi major axis

2.2554 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.39 yr (1,237 days)

Mean anomaly

172.40 °

Mean motion

0° 17 27.6 / day

Inclination

5.9015°

Longitude of ascending node

200.68°

Argument of perihelion

169.52°

Dimensions

6.884 ± 0.174 km

Geometric albedo

0.130 ± 0.017

via Wikipedia infobox