Q137344

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

9 October 1931

Pronunciation

/ ˈ f r ɪ z i ə /

Named after

Frisia · Frisian Islands , (Home of the Frisian people )

Alternative designations

1931 TV 1 · 1933 BO, 1937 VN · 1948 SE, 1954 UC · 1959 RC, 1971 UE 3

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis

Observation arc

85.48 yr (31,220 days)

Aphelion

3.8295 AU

Perihelion

2.4952 AU

Semi major axis

3.1624 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.62 yr (2,054 days)

Mean anomaly

78.227 °

Mean motion

0° 10 31.08 / day

Inclination

1.3468°

Longitude of ascending node

40.015°

Argument of perihelion

355.23°

Dimensions

18.71 km (calculated) , 19.09 ± 0.19 km , 21.682 ± 0.043 km , 22.995 ± 0.121 km , 24.00 ± 7.16 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

21.682

Orbital period

2064.234933961977

via Wikidata · CC0