Q138624

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

H. van Gent

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs. , (Leiden Southern Station)

Discovery date

28 September 1935

Named after

A. Kruyt (relative of G. Pels)

Alternative designations

1935 SS 1 · 1949 QV 1 , 1955 XB 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · Koronis

Observation arc

80.87 yr (29,539 days)

Aphelion

2.9118 AU

Perihelion

2.8183 AU

Semi major axis

2.8650 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.85 yr (1,771 days)

Mean anomaly

183.28 °

Mean motion

0° 12 11.52 / day

Inclination

2.0480°

Longitude of ascending node

174.57°

Argument of perihelion

297.53°

Dimensions

12.46 km (derived) , 13.772 ± 0.184 km , 14.737 ± 0.159 km

Synodic rotation period

22.5 h , 23.0447 ± 0.0005 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.772

Orbital period

1771.941084842786

Image

1389Onnie (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0