Q143168

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

P. Wild

Discovery site

Zimmerwald Obs.

Discovery date

7 September 1966

Named after

Sigmund Mauderli, (Swiss astronomer)

Alternative designations

1966 RA · 1927 SF, 1934 ND 1 · 1938 DL 2 , 1943 TP · 1951 UH, 1951 XD · A922 BC

Minor planet category

main-belt · Hilda

Observation arc

95.36 yr (34,830 days)

Aphelion

4.8163 AU

Perihelion

3.0642 AU

Semi major axis

3.9403 AU

Orbital period sidereal

7.82 yr (2,857 days)

Mean anomaly

223.85 °

Mean motion

0° 7 33.6 / day

Inclination

3.2937°

Longitude of ascending node

125.95°

Argument of perihelion

199.95°

Jupiter moid

0.5342 AU

Dimensions

40.32 km (derived) , 44.908 ± 0.345 km , 51.91 ± 1.28 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q143191

Follows

1747 Wright

Parent body

Sun

Diameter

44.908

Orbital period

2871.472984069642

via Wikidata · CC0