Q142021

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. A. Bruwer

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

7 April 1953

Named after

Harry Edwin Wood , (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1953 GA · 1931 KL, 1933 YC · 1951 RD 1 , 1955 VQ

Minor planet category

main-belt · Phocaea

Observation arc

86.05 yr (31,429 days)

Aphelion

3.1172 AU

Perihelion

1.6726 AU

Semi major axis

2.3949 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.71 yr (1,354 days)

Mean anomaly

182.68 °

Mean motion

0° 15 57.24 / day

Inclination

20.575°

Longitude of ascending node

212.94°

Argument of perihelion

276.66°

Dimensions

11.342 ± 0.113 km , 12.67 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

6.8088 ± 0.0002 h , 6.8088 ± 0.0004 h , 6.8090 ± 0.0002 h

via Wikipedia infobox