Q136548

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

S. Belyavskyj

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

5 September 1924

Named after

Georg Wallenberg , (German mathematician)

Alternative designations

1924 SL · 1930 HH

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) · Flora

Observation arc

87.02 yr (31,784 days)

Aphelion

2.5489 AU

Perihelion

1.8428 AU

Semi major axis

2.1958 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.25 yr (1,189 days)

Mean anomaly

237.52 °

Mean motion

0° 18 10.44 / day

Inclination

3.3345°

Longitude of ascending node

280.54°

Argument of perihelion

28.766°

Dimensions

8.02 ± 1.81 km , 8.037 ± 0.357 km , 9.36 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

4.096 ± 0.002 h , 4.116 ± 0.0055 h , 4.12 ± 0.070 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

8.037

Orbital period

1188.273170779152

via Wikidata · CC0