Q136323

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

M. F. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

25 September 1929

Named after

Johannes Kepler , (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1929 SA · 1951 SA

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser

Observation arc

86.62 yr (31,638 days)

Aphelion

3.9338 AU

Perihelion

1.4219 AU

Semi major axis

2.6779 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.38 yr (1,601 days)

Mean anomaly

320.25 °

Mean motion

0° 13 29.64 / day

Inclination

15.312°

Longitude of ascending node

5.7988°

Argument of perihelion

332.89°

Earth moid

0.4329 AU

Dimensions

4 ± 1 km (generic)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Johannes Kepler

Followed by

1135 Colchis

Follows

Q136299

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Orbital period

1600.976853693816

via Wikidata · CC0