Q139579

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

23 July 1938

Named after

Zomba (Malawian city)

Alternative designations

1938 PA

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser

Observation arc

78.47 yr (28,660 days)

Aphelion

2.7913 AU

Perihelion

1.5998 AU

Semi major axis

2.1956 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.25 yr (1,188 days)

Mean anomaly

95.275 °

Mean motion

0° 18 10.8 / day

Inclination

9.9388°

Longitude of ascending node

308.93°

Argument of perihelion

23.188°

Dimensions

6.97 ± 1.39 km , 8.57 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

2.769 ± 0.005 h , 2.77 h , 2.772 ± 0.006 h , 2.773 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox