Q137564

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

C. Jackson

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

17 August 1933

Pronunciation

/ j uː ˈ t oʊ p i ə /

Named after

Utopia , (fictional island society)

Alternative designations

1933 QM 1 · 1930 CA, 1933 QB 1 · 1933 RF, 1939 RB · 1955 SO 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

84.09 yr (30,715 days)

Aphelion

3.5049 AU

Perihelion

2.7293 AU

Semi major axis

3.1171 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.50 yr (2,010 days)

Mean anomaly

23.825 °

Mean motion

0° 10 44.76 / day

Inclination

18.040°

Longitude of ascending node

324.31°

Argument of perihelion

79.265°

Dimensions

52.91 km (derived) , 53.07 ± 3.7 km , 54.48 ± 19.56 km , 57.702 ± 0.300 km , 58.77 ± 0.72 km , 64.414 ± 0.843 km , 64.71 ± 0.58 km

via Wikipedia infobox