Q142013

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

C. H. F. Peters

Discovery site

Litchfield Obs.

Discovery date

15 August 1876

Pronunciation

/ ˈ r ɒ d ə p iː /

Named after

Queen Rhodope , (Greek mythology)

Alternative designations

A876 PB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background · Eunomia

Observation arc

132.05 yr (48,233 days)

Aphelion

3.2539 AU

Perihelion

2.1165 AU

Semi major axis

2.6852 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.40 yr (1,607 days)

Mean anomaly

324.65 °

Mean motion

0° 13 26.4 / day

Inclination

12.028°

Longitude of ascending node

128.92°

Argument of perihelion

264.50°

Dimensions

39.04 ± 9.79 km , 52.393 ± 0.196 km , 53.26 ± 0.62 km , 54.551 ± 1.535 km , 54.56 km (taken) , 54.564 km , 62.34 ± 21.46 km , 65.29 ± 0.80 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

52.393

Orbital period

1608.874966681562

Image

166Rhodope (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0