Q138250

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

5 February 1929

Named after

Gotha , (German city in Thuringia )

Alternative designations

1929 CY · 1931 RC 1 , 1948 PL 1 · 1952 OC

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background · Eunomia

Observation arc

90.53 yr (33,065 d)

Aphelion

3.0948 AU

Perihelion

2.1599 AU

Semi major axis

2.6274 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.26 yr (1,556 d)

Mean anomaly

147.30 °

Mean motion

0° 13 53.04 / day

Inclination

13.849°

Longitude of ascending node

166.12°

Argument of perihelion

250.00°

Mean diameter

13.731 ± 0.120 km , 13.747 ± 0.325 km

Synodic rotation period

2.640 67 ± 0.000 02 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.731

Orbital period

1555.77576484462

via Wikidata · CC0