Q143362

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

Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )

Discovery site

Goethe Link Obs.

Discovery date

30 March 1952

Named after

Frank Edmondson , (American astronomer)

Alternative designations

1952 FN · 1940 BC, 1950 XP · 1952 HT, 1955 US · 1969 JK, 1978 WY

Minor planet category

main-belt · background

Observation arc

64.74 yr (23,646 days)

Aphelion

3.9145 AU

Perihelion

2.4388 AU

Semi major axis

3.1766 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.66 yr (2,068 days)

Mean anomaly

282.49 °

Mean motion

0° 10 26.76 / day

Inclination

2.4636°

Longitude of ascending node

76.988°

Argument of perihelion

49.903°

Dimensions

20.51 km (calculated) , 21.94 ± 0.94 km

Synodic rotation period

4.208 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox