Q140748

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

13 January 1940

Named after

Walther Bauersfeld , (German engineer)

Alternative designations

1940 AD

Minor planet category

main-belt · Koronis , background

Observation arc

77.47 yr (28,296 days)

Aphelion

3.1994 AU

Perihelion

2.6132 AU

Semi major axis

2.9063 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.95 yr (1,810 days)

Mean anomaly

236.42 °

Mean motion

0° 11 56.04 / day

Inclination

3.2348°

Longitude of ascending node

110.97°

Argument of perihelion

20.747°

Dimensions

11.48 km (calculated) , 13.772 ± 0.194 km , 14.346 ± 0.123 km

Synodic rotation period

51.191 ± 0.1354 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.772

Orbital period

1811.73064358329

via Wikidata · CC0