Q136811

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

M. F. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

19 March 1931

Named after

Mally Wolf, (discoverer's daughter-in-law)

Alternative designations

1931 FD

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

86.30 yr (31,520 days)

Aphelion

3.0682 AU

Perihelion

2.1698 AU

Semi major axis

2.6190 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.24 yr (1,548 days)

Mean anomaly

104.44 °

Mean motion

0° 13 57 / day

Inclination

8.7067°

Longitude of ascending node

6.8116°

Argument of perihelion

234.15°

Dimensions

10.65 km (calculated) , 11.20 ± 0.83 km , 13.159 ± 0.183 km , 13.379 ± 0.077 km , 14.41 ± 0.47 km , 16.60 ± 5.64 km

Synodic rotation period

46.6917 ± 0.1516 h

via Wikipedia infobox