Q137303

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

4 November 1932

Named after

Rutherford , ( inner suburb of New York City )

Alternative designations

1932 VB · 1925 SF, 1942 XV

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora

Observation arc

84.98 yr (31,040 days)

Aphelion

2.3947 AU

Perihelion

2.0534 AU

Semi major axis

2.2240 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.32 yr (1,211 days)

Mean anomaly

150.14 °

Mean motion

0° 17 49.92 / day

Inclination

4.8756°

Longitude of ascending node

259.00°

Argument of perihelion

223.37°

Dimensions

12.41 ± 0.8 km , 13.063 ± 0.097 km , 14.060 ± 0.069 km , 15.77 ± 0.69 km

Synodic rotation period

18.20 ± 0.01 h , 18.220 ± 0.005 h , 18.24 h , 18.242 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.063

Orbital period

1211.831584080896

Image

1249Rutherfordia (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0