Q139107

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

5 July 1937

Named after

Somalia (African country)

Alternative designations

1937 NK · 1929 RQ, 1954 UR 1 · 1957 HT, 1962 VF

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background · Astraea

Observation arc

79.73 yr (29,122 days)

Aphelion

3.0674 AU

Perihelion

2.0508 AU

Semi major axis

2.5591 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.09 yr (1,495 days)

Mean anomaly

184.53 °

Mean motion

0° 14 26.88 / day

Inclination

3.2883°

Longitude of ascending node

327.25°

Argument of perihelion

351.42°

Dimensions

8.77 ± 1.58 km , 9.352 ± 0.133 km , 9.44 ± 0.36 km , 9.674 ± 0.089 km , 10.79 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

6.909 07 ± 0.000 05 h , 6.910 ± 0.001 h , 6.913 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox