Q136841

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

22 February 1930

Named after

unknown

Alternative designations

1930 DC · 1961 VB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , Nysa

Observation arc

86.98 yr (31,770 days)

Aphelion

2.6934 AU

Perihelion

2.0732 AU

Semi major axis

2.3833 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.68 yr (1,344 days)

Mean anomaly

243.60 °

Mean motion

0° 16 4.44 / day

Inclination

2.8011°

Longitude of ascending node

15.139°

Argument of perihelion

205.59°

Dimensions

17.83 km (derived) , 19.65 ± 6.47 km , 21.87 ± 3.04 km , 23.751 ± 0.133 km , 23.81 ± 0.35 km , 24.30 ± 7.18 km , 25.165 ± 0.074 km

Synodic rotation period

212.5 ± 5.0 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

23.751

Orbital period

1344.287580630282

via Wikidata · CC0