Q137908

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

S. Arend

Discovery site

Uccle Obs.

Discovery date

24 August 1933

Named after

Bern , (capital of Switzerland)

Alternative designations

1933 QG · 1926 EA, A911 OA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

84.74 yr (30,953 d)

Aphelion

3.2074 AU

Perihelion

2.1112 AU

Semi major axis

2.6593 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.34 yr (1,584 d)

Mean anomaly

241.65 °

Mean motion

0° 13 38.28 / day

Inclination

12.545°

Longitude of ascending node

298.14°

Argument of perihelion

99.773°

Known satellites

1 (see 2nd infobox)

Mean diameter

13.12 ± 2.44 km , 13.504 ± 0.311 km , 13.93 ± 0.64 km , 14.27 ± 0.36 km , 19.96 ± 4.97 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.504

Orbital period

1581.718507555

via Wikidata · CC0