Q144233

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

20 June 1939

Named after

Katanga Province , (Congo, Dem. Rep.)

Alternative designations

1939 MB · 1928 KD, 1950 NK · 1971 BG

Minor planet category

main-belt · Phocaea

Observation arc

77.58 yr (28,337 days)

Aphelion

2.8258 AU

Perihelion

1.9172 AU

Semi major axis

2.3715 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.65 yr (1,334 days)

Mean anomaly

173.17 °

Mean motion

0° 16 11.64 / day

Inclination

25.709°

Longitude of ascending node

88.723°

Argument of perihelion

140.27°

Dimensions

9.76 ± 1.21 km , 15.89 ± 1.56 km , 15.90 ± 1.0 km ( IRAS :14) , 16.28 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

6.35 ± 0.02 h , 7.2165 ± 0.0003 h , 8.481 ± 0.003 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

15.9

Orbital period

1335.300473072532

via Wikidata · CC0