Q139461

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

M. Laugier

Discovery site

Nice Obs.

Discovery date

30 December 1937

Named after

Jean-Jacques Laugier, (son of discoverer)

Alternative designations

1937 YL · 1935 OH, 1939 GH

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

81.92 yr (29,921 days)

Aphelion

3.2752 AU

Perihelion

2.9749 AU

Semi major axis

3.1250 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.52 yr (2,018 days)

Mean anomaly

183.52 °

Mean motion

0° 10 42.24 / day

Inclination

15.314°

Longitude of ascending node

104.64°

Argument of perihelion

335.41°

Dimensions

25.33 ± 1.04 km , 32.94 ± 1.4 km ( IRAS :8) , 33.75 ± 1.40 km , 35.145 ± 0.172 , 41.431 ± 0.464 km

Synodic rotation period

16.56 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

35.145

Orbital period

2019.028153280067

via Wikidata · CC0