Q137337

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

F. L. Whipple

Discovery site

Oak Ridge Obs.

Discovery date

19 February 1933

Named after

Celestia Whipple , (discoverer's mother)

Alternative designations

1933 DG · 1934 PA 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Pallas · background

Observation arc

85.57 yr (31,254 d)

Aphelion

3.2535 AU

Perihelion

2.1350 AU

Semi major axis

2.6943 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.42 yr (1,615 d)

Mean anomaly

137.14 °

Mean motion

0° 13 22.44 / day

Inclination

33.839°

Longitude of ascending node

140.91°

Argument of perihelion

63.589°

Mean diameter

17.39 ± 1.6 km , 19.037 ± 0.304 km , 20.36 ± 0.69 km , 21.542 ± 0.155 km , 21.56 ± 0.95 km

Synodic rotation period

10.636 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

19.037

Orbital period

1617.572448868643

via Wikidata · CC0