Q143706

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

C. Jackson

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

30 June 1935

Named after

Benguela , (city in Angola)

Alternative designations

1935 MG · 1938 EX, 1950 ON · 1950 QP, 1951 YQ · 1953 FT, 1957 JF · 1957 MH, 1968 HY · 1969 UU 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , background

Observation arc

83.31 yr (30,430 d)

Aphelion

2.7242 AU

Perihelion

2.0858 AU

Semi major axis

2.4050 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.73 yr (1,362 d)

Mean anomaly

174.06 °

Mean motion

0° 15 51.48 / day

Inclination

1.4727°

Longitude of ascending node

95.271°

Argument of perihelion

184.89°

Mean diameter

10.480 ± 0.100 km , 11.80 ± 0.41 km , 16.68 ± 1.3 km

Geometric albedo

0.0763 ± 0.014 , 0.156 ± 0.012 , 0.237 ± 0.045

via Wikipedia infobox