Q135870

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

H. E. Wood

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

21 July 1928

Named after

Theodore Reunert, (South African engineer)

Alternative designations

1928 OB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

88.43 yr (32,300 days)

Aphelion

3.1055 AU

Perihelion

2.0967 AU

Semi major axis

2.6011 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.20 yr (1,532 days)

Mean anomaly

65.066 °

Mean motion

0° 14 5.64 / day

Inclination

9.4713°

Longitude of ascending node

81.346°

Argument of perihelion

248.00°

Dimensions

35.95 ± 14.97 km , 38.51 ± 11.33 km , 42.333 ± 0.232 km , 43.30 ± 0.75 km , 45.65 km (derived) , 45.736 ± 0.577 km , 45.83 ± 2.7 km , 46.34 ± 0.76 km

Synodic rotation period

13.02 ± 0.01 h , 13.030 ± 0.006 h , 13.036 ± 0.002 h , 13.036 ± 0.0073 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

42.333

Orbital period

1532.226596086994

via Wikidata · CC0