Q140904

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

S. Arend

Discovery site

Uccle Obs.

Discovery date

9 October 1948

Named after

Brown University

Alternative designations

1948 TX · 1952 QE 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Koronis

Observation arc

69.89 yr (25,529 d)

Aphelion

3.0028 AU

Perihelion

2.6888 AU

Semi major axis

2.8458 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.80 yr (1,754 d)

Mean anomaly

222.99 °

Mean motion

0° 12 19.08 / day

Inclination

1.6659°

Longitude of ascending node

190.05°

Argument of perihelion

226.15°

Mean diameter

10.80 ± 1.03 km , 12.118 ± 0.272 km , 12.728 ± 0.058 km

Synodic rotation period

48 h (or longer)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

12.118

Orbital period

1750.773663657044

via Wikidata · CC0