Q136582

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

31 August 1929

Named after

Arabian Peninsula

Alternative designations

1929 QC · 1955 EC

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

87.58 yr (31,987 days)

Aphelion

3.6412 AU

Perihelion

2.7221 AU

Semi major axis

3.1816 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.68 yr (2,073 days)

Mean anomaly

195.98 °

Mean motion

0° 10 25.32 / day

Inclination

9.5447°

Longitude of ascending node

336.19°

Argument of perihelion

313.37°

Dimensions

29.01 ± 0.84 km , 29.113 ± 4.433 km , 55.67 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

15.225 ± 0.005 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

29.113

Orbital period

2076.176991966624

via Wikidata · CC0