Q136659

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

19 March 1930

Named after

Hermann Kobold , (German astronomer)

Alternative designations

1930 FB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , Phocaea

Observation arc

87.01 yr (31,782 days)

Aphelion

2.7574 AU

Perihelion

1.8543 AU

Semi major axis

2.3059 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.50 yr (1,279 days)

Mean anomaly

15.684 °

Mean motion

0° 16 53.4 / day

Inclination

25.190°

Longitude of ascending node

156.96°

Argument of perihelion

341.25°

Dimensions

5.79 ± 0.37 km , 6.34 ± 1.15 km , 7.63 km (calculated) , 7.651 ± 0.064 km , 8.751 ± 0.066 km

Synodic rotation period

4.141 ± 0.002 h , 4.142 ± 0.001 h , 4.150 ± 0.005 h , 4.154 ± 0.011 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

7.651

Orbital period

1279.916103224988

via Wikidata · CC0