Q138720

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

9 August 1936

Named after

Mthatha , (South-African town)

Alternative designations

1936 PG · 1931 GK, 1945 QF · 1945 RC, 1948 EB 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

81.14 yr (29,638 days)

Aphelion

3.3646 AU

Perihelion

1.9967 AU

Semi major axis

2.6806 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.39 yr (1,603 days)

Mean anomaly

173.37 °

Mean motion

0° 13 28.56 / day

Inclination

3.5109°

Longitude of ascending node

77.437°

Argument of perihelion

206.53°

Dimensions

20.35 ± 0.30 km , 20.40 km (derived) , 20.798 ± 0.292 km , 22.895 ± 0.285 km

Synodic rotation period

30 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

20.798

Orbital period

1604.889649973087

via Wikidata · CC0