Q141225

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

L. Boyer

Discovery site

Algiers Obs.

Discovery date

7 March 1949

Named after

Marguerite Laugier , (French astronomer)

Alternative designations

1949 EB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

68.01 yr (24,840 days)

Aphelion

3.1024 AU

Perihelion

2.5869 AU

Semi major axis

2.8446 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.80 yr (1,752 days)

Mean anomaly

67.764 °

Mean motion

0° 12 19.44 / day

Inclination

11.812°

Longitude of ascending node

158.63°

Argument of perihelion

52.042°

Dimensions

12.885 ± 0.169 , 24.30 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

8.0199 h , 8.02272 h

via Wikipedia infobox