Q136427

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

28 January 1930

Named after

A girl's name picked from a, popular German calendar

Alternative designations

1930 BJ · 1959 CJ, 1967 EV

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Hilda

Observation arc

87.27 yr (31,875 days)

Aphelion

4.1018 AU

Perihelion

3.3959 AU

Semi major axis

3.7489 AU

Orbital period sidereal

7.26 yr (2,651 days)

Mean anomaly

131.28 °

Mean motion

0° 8 8.88 / day

Inclination

9.7423°

Longitude of ascending node

156.73°

Argument of perihelion

220.87°

Dimensions

56.347 ± 0.194 km , 57.59 ± 2.2 km , 57.65 km (derived) , 64.21 ± 0.96 km

Synodic rotation period

14.4 h (dated) , 44.023 ± 0.2530 h

via Wikipedia infobox