Q137259

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

H. E. Wood

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

4 March 1932

Named after

Frank Watson Dyson , (English astronomer)

Alternative designations

1932 EB 1 · 1931 AA 1 , 1945 RA · 1948 CE, 1956 PB · A908 DC, A920 EB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

97.31 yr (35,542 days)

Aphelion

3.5165 AU

Perihelion

2.8633 AU

Semi major axis

3.1899 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.70 yr (2,081 days)

Mean anomaly

290.13 °

Mean motion

0° 10 22.8 / day

Inclination

23.518°

Longitude of ascending node

322.27°

Argument of perihelion

320.07°

Dimensions

70.757 ± 0.287 km , 74.83 ± 28.44 km , 75.62 ± 0.82 km , 77.14 ± 0.86 km , 77.47 ± 26.72 km , 79.190 ± 0.694 km , 83.05 ± 4.4 km

Synodic rotation period

8.355 ± 0.001 h , 8.60738 h , 8.6080 ± 0.0005 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

79.19

Orbital period

2079.228712318503

Image

1241Dysona (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0