Q141631

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

J. Comas Solà

Discovery site

Fabra Obs.

Discovery date

10 January 1927

Named after

Spanish and American Astronomical Society

Alternative designations

1927 AA · 1956 AA

Minor planet category

main-belt · Phocaea

Observation arc

94.02 yr (34,339 d)

Aphelion

3.0090 AU

Perihelion

1.7185 AU

Semi major axis

2.3638 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.63 yr (1,327 d)

Mean anomaly

335.85 °

Mean motion

0° 16 16.32 / day

Inclination

25.312°

Longitude of ascending node

279.48°

Argument of perihelion

149.29°

Known satellites

1 (0.26D s /D p ; P : 2.14 d)

Mean diameter

14.25 ± 2.36 km , 14.77 ± 0.19 km , 15.140 ± 0.490 km , 15.95 km (calculated)

via Wikipedia infobox