Q142388

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

H. van Gent

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs. , (Leiden Southern Station)

Discovery date

16 September 1930

Named after

Floris-Jan van der Meulen , (Contest Winner)

Alternative designations

1930 SO · 1926 PG, 1928 DN · 1934 VV, 1943 AC · 1949 OF, 1949 ON 1 · 1949 OY, 1951 CW · 1966 BP

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

89.19 yr (32,577 days)

Aphelion

2.9545 AU

Perihelion

1.9461 AU

Semi major axis

2.4503 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.84 yr (1,401 days)

Mean anomaly

218.98 °

Mean motion

0° 15 25.2 / day

Inclination

6.3757°

Longitude of ascending node

123.19°

Argument of perihelion

265.10°

Dimensions

13.743 ± 1.905 km , 13.99 ± 0.23 km , 16.122 ± 4.950 km , 16.21 km (taken) , 16.213 km

Synodic rotation period

0.083 h (fragm.) , 144.85 ± 0.20 h , 145 h

via Wikipedia infobox