Q135890

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

O. Oikawa

Discovery site

Tokyo Astronomical Obs.

Discovery date

5 September 1928

Pronunciation

Japanese: [ hakone ]

Named after

Mount Hakone , (Japanese volcanic mountain)

Alternative designations

1928 RJ · 1926 EC, 1950 QH 1 · 1952 BE 1 , A906 RD · A917 DD

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) background

Observation arc

110.19 yr (40,247 days)

Aphelion

3.0081 AU

Perihelion

2.3686 AU

Semi major axis

2.6884 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.41 yr (1,610 days)

Mean anomaly

13.741 °

Mean motion

0° 13 24.96 / day

Inclination

13.377°

Longitude of ascending node

329.00°

Argument of perihelion

80.805°

Mean diameter

24.44 km (derived) , 24.73 ± 1.1 km , 24.90 ± 0.57 km , 26.684 ± 0.397 km , 29.567 ± 0.135 km

via Wikipedia infobox