Q132861

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

14 September 1925

Named after

unknown

Alternative designations

1925 RC · A908 SE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia

Observation arc

108.68 yr (39,694 d)

Aphelion

3.0904 AU

Perihelion

2.1599 AU

Semi major axis

2.6252 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.25 yr (1,554 d)

Mean anomaly

233.12 °

Mean motion

0° 13 54.12 / day

Inclination

12.496°

Longitude of ascending node

342.33°

Argument of perihelion

66.282°

Mean diameter

8.773 ± 0.115 km , 9.196 ± 0.079 km , 10.03 ± 0.65 km , 10.53 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

6.141 88 ± 0.000 01 h , 6.142 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox