Q143033

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

15 August 1939

Named after

Bruno Meyermann, (German astronomer)

Alternative designations

1939 PF · 1929 TB 1 , 1935 GN · 1952 HN 3 , 1953 XO 1 · 1963 TG

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

87.57 yr (31,984 days)

Aphelion

2.5407 AU

Perihelion

1.9812 AU

Semi major axis

2.2610 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.40 yr (1,242 days)

Mean anomaly

26.730 °

Mean motion

0° 17 23.64 / day

Inclination

3.4093°

Longitude of ascending node

203.35°

Argument of perihelion

82.116°

Dimensions

6.62 ± 0.79 km , 7.47 km (calculated) , 7.858 ± 0.124 , 8.688 ± 0.063 km

Synodic rotation period

2.8212 ± 0.0002 h , 2.8219 ± 0.0002 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

7.858

Orbital period

1242.92839480102

via Wikidata · CC0