Q139265

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

Y. Väisälä

Discovery site

Turku Obs.

Discovery date

26 January 1938

Named after

Utra (Finnish town)

Alternative designations

1938 BB · 1936 SB, 1951 KO · A918 FA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

98.67 yr (36,038 days)

Aphelion

2.6404 AU

Perihelion

2.4299 AU

Semi major axis

2.5352 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.04 yr (1,474 days)

Mean anomaly

285.64 °

Mean motion

0° 14 39.12 / day

Inclination

4.7865°

Longitude of ascending node

35.528°

Argument of perihelion

64.085°

Dimensions

11.83 ± 0.86 km , 11.834 ± 0.122 km , 12.634 ± 0.103 km , 13.26 ± 0.53 km , 13.58 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

257 ± 30 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

11.834

Orbital period

1473.471756272294

via Wikidata · CC0