Q143262

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

M. Laugier

Discovery site

Nice Obs.

Discovery date

8 November 1936

Named after

Anne Lorbach Herget, (wife of Paul Herget )

Alternative designations

1936 VD · 1935 QA 1 , 1936 UK · 1949 ED, 1956 NA · 1960 EA, 1965 AV · A924 PA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos

Observation arc

92.72 yr (33,866 days)

Aphelion

3.2391 AU

Perihelion

2.9443 AU

Semi major axis

3.0917 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.44 yr (1,986 days)

Mean anomaly

241.19 °

Mean motion

0° 10 52.68 / day

Inclination

10.707°

Longitude of ascending node

157.11°

Argument of perihelion

322.08°

Dimensions

24.878 ± 0.265 km

Geometric albedo

0.140 ± 0.024

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

24.878

Orbital period

1986.424177880203

via Wikidata · CC0