Q142276

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. Oterma

Discovery site

Turku Obs.

Discovery date

12 February 1942

Named after

Per Brahe the Younger , (Count and Governor)

Alternative designations

1942 CH · 1934 PP, 1937 AA · 1937 AY, 1938 JA · 1943 PC, 1949 XL · 1952 OG, 1953 VD 1 · 1960 FF, A902 JA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

117.28 yr (42,838 d)

Aphelion

3.2227 AU

Perihelion

2.2278 AU

Semi major axis

2.7252 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.50 yr (1,643 d)

Mean anomaly

349.62 °

Mean motion

0° 13 8.76 / day

Inclination

4.2614°

Longitude of ascending node

83.344°

Argument of perihelion

158.68°

Mean diameter

13.960 ± 0.125 km , 14.20 ± 0.8 km , 14.848 ± 0.130 km , 15.45 ± 1.32 km , 18.29 ± 0.70 km

Synodic rotation period

3.426 ± 0.002 h , 3.428 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.96

Orbital period

1642.567782841224

via Wikidata · CC0