Q141559

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. Belyavskyj

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

1 October 1926

Named after

дружба – lit. friendship , (in Russian)

Alternative designations

1926 TM · 1927 AE, 1931 EO · 1946 UH, 1949 QS 1 · 1951 EK 1 , 1951 ER 1 · 1958 GA, 1979 QP 4

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

90.49 yr (33,052 days)

Aphelion

2.4948 AU

Perihelion

1.9650 AU

Semi major axis

2.2299 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.33 yr (1,216 days)

Mean anomaly

73.187 °

Mean motion

0° 17 45.6 / day

Inclination

3.1730°

Longitude of ascending node

181.88°

Argument of perihelion

238.14°

Dimensions

9.05 km (derived) , 9.08 ± 0.8 km , 11.70 ± 0.20 km , 12.694 ± 0.296 km

Synodic rotation period

12 h (dated) , 47.9 ± 0.5 h (dated) , 99.100 ± 0.005 h , 99.20 ± 0.03 h

via Wikipedia infobox