Q140177

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

15 December 1938

Named after

Kuopio (Finnish town)

Alternative designations

1938 XD · 1935 EF, 1953 LH

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia

Observation arc

82.34 yr (30,075 days)

Aphelion

2.8995 AU

Perihelion

2.3499 AU

Semi major axis

2.6247 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.25 yr (1,553 days)

Mean anomaly

154.93 °

Mean motion

0° 13 54.48 / day

Inclination

12.369°

Longitude of ascending node

316.98°

Argument of perihelion

177.92°

Dimensions

18.43 ± 1.5 km , 18.54 km (derived) , 22.33 ± 0.34 km , 22.985 ± 0.964 km

Synodic rotation period

9.577 ± 0.0004 h , 9.957 ± 0.006 h , 9.9586 ± 0.0005 h , 9.96 ± 0.05 h , 9.98 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

22.985

Orbital period

1555.346861355882

Image

1503Kuopio (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0