Q136036

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

5 February 1929

Named after

unknown

Alternative designations

1929 CU · 1925 QE, 1964 HA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Hygiea

Observation arc

88.95 yr (32,489 d)

Aphelion

3.5443 AU

Perihelion

2.9085 AU

Semi major axis

3.2264 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.80 yr (2,117 d)

Mean anomaly

96.944 °

Mean motion

0° 10 12.36 / day

Inclination

4.1199°

Longitude of ascending node

268.08°

Argument of perihelion

359.39°

Mean diameter

61.817 ± 0.265 km , 62.39 ± 0.36 km , 63.2 ± 12.6 km , 64 ± 6 km , 65.677 ± 0.810 km , 66.49 ± 1.32 km , 66.53 ± 1.4 km , 69.640 ± 22.05 km , 74.94 ± 22.96 km

Synodic rotation period

8.277 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox