Q140426

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

18 September 1939

Named after

Savonlinna , (Finnish town)

Alternative designations

1939 SC · 1930 SE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

86.61 yr (31,635 days)

Aphelion

3.4104 AU

Perihelion

1.9885 AU

Semi major axis

2.6995 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.44 yr (1,620 days)

Mean anomaly

235.57 °

Mean motion

0° 13 19.92 / day

Inclination

5.8589°

Longitude of ascending node

279.06°

Argument of perihelion

64.806°

Dimensions

11.73 ± 2.63 km , 12.06 km (derived) , 12.18 km ( IRAS ) , 12.23 ± 3.39 km , 12.233 ± 0.140 km

Synodic rotation period

14.634 ± 0.002 h , 22.8406 ± 0.0296 h

via Wikipedia infobox