Q136468

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

A. Deutsch

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

5 July 1929

Named after

Rarahu (based on a French novel by Pierre Loti )

Alternative designations

1929 NA · A924 OA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos

Observation arc

87.98 yr (32,135 days)

Aphelion

3.3477 AU

Perihelion

2.6909 AU

Semi major axis

3.0193 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.25 yr (1,916 days)

Mean anomaly

278.28 °

Mean motion

0° 11 16.44 / day

Inclination

10.827°

Longitude of ascending node

145.43°

Argument of perihelion

174.80°

Dimensions

26.311 ± 0.283 km , 27.512 ± 0.371 km , 32.81 ± 0.56 km , 33.23 ± 2.9 km , 49.11 ± 0.64 km

Synodic rotation period

6.54 ± 0.05 h , 6.544 48 ± 0.000 02 h , 6.544 49 ± 0.000 05 h , 6.5447 ± 0.0006 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

27.512

Orbital period

1918.126678567834

Image

1148Rarahu (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0