Q139556

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

30 July 1938

Named after

Shona people (Mashona) , (natives of Mashonaland )

Alternative designations

1938 OE · 1930 DL, 1936 DK · 1936 FA 1 , 1948 EG · A923 CB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

94.41 yr (34,483 days)

Aphelion

3.8268 AU

Perihelion

2.9485 AU

Semi major axis

3.3877 AU

Orbital period sidereal

6.24 yr (2,277 days)

Mean anomaly

255.30 °

Mean motion

0° 9 29.16 / day

Inclination

21.910°

Longitude of ascending node

326.50°

Argument of perihelion

349.55°

Dimensions

89.160 ± 0.728 km , 90.93 ± 28.77 km , 95.08 ± 1.30 km , 104.119 ± 1.062 km , 107.54 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

9.740 ± 0.0029 h , 9.744 ± 0.001 h , 9.76 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

89.16

Orbital period

2277.863313764114

via Wikidata · CC0