Q143437

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

7 September 1962

Named after

Vesto Slipher and , Earl C. Slipher

Alternative designations

1962 RF · 1953 UR, 1980 RH 5

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Padua

Observation arc

63.04 yr (23,027 days)

Aphelion

2.9919 AU

Perihelion

2.5066 AU

Semi major axis

2.7493 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.56 yr (1,665 days)

Mean anomaly

23.827 °

Mean motion

0° 12 58.32 / day

Inclination

5.2283°

Longitude of ascending node

188.66°

Argument of perihelion

171.68°

Dimensions

14.37 ± 3.73 km , 14.74 ± 5.05 km , 18.959 ± 0.211 km , 19.099 ± 0.218 km , 20.21 km (calculated) , 20.29 ± 1.06 km

Synodic rotation period

7.677 ± 0.0145 h (S) , 7.693 ± 0.0145 h (R)

via Wikipedia infobox