Q143773

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

L. Chernykh

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

19 August 1966

Named after

Georgy Dobrovolsky , ( cosmonaut )

Alternative designations

1966 QC · 1936 KK, 1939 GR · 1943 SG, 1946 NA · 1953 TC 2 , 1953 VX 3 · 1955 EJ, 1956 PD · 1956 RT, 1969 OF

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

73.51 yr (26,850 days)

Aphelion

2.6309 AU

Perihelion

1.7952 AU

Semi major axis

2.2131 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.29 yr (1,203 days)

Mean anomaly

195.44 °

Mean motion

0° 17 57.84 / day

Inclination

1.9761°

Longitude of ascending node

102.09°

Argument of perihelion

214.93°

Dimensions

7.809 ± 0.077 km , 7.922 ± 0.099 , 9.85 km (calculated) , 11.23 ± 0.37 km

Synodic rotation period

4.800 ± 0.020 h , 4.811 096 ± 0.000 005 h , 4.8111 ± 0.0025 h , 4.812 ± 0.001 h , 5.8 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

7.922

Orbital period

1202.760878860649

Image

001789-asteroid shape model (1789) Dobrovolsky.png

via Wikidata · CC0