Q137464

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

G. Neujmin

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

10 October 1931

Named after

Pyotr Vasilyevich Isergin , (Crimean physician)

Alternative designations

1931 TN · 1930 MK, 1932 CK 1 · 2003 RV 22 , A906 HD

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

111.22 yr (40,622 days)

Aphelion

3.5228 AU

Perihelion

2.7708 AU

Semi major axis

3.1468 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.58 yr (2,039 days)

Mean anomaly

160.82 °

Mean motion

0° 10 35.76 / day

Inclination

6.6687°

Longitude of ascending node

127.22°

Argument of perihelion

269.37°

Dimensions

39.58 ± 12.78 km , 42.32 ± 14.32 km , 44.47 km (derived) , 47.52 ± 0.38 km , 47.524 ± 0.383 km , 50.897 ± 0.464 km , 52.15 ± 0.76 km

Synodic rotation period

7.599 32 ± 0.000 09 h , 7.829 ± 0.002 h , 9.864 ± 0.004 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

47.524

Orbital period

2031.563347329818

via Wikidata · CC0