Q144299

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

25 July 1950

Named after

Alan T. Waterman , (American physicist)

Alternative designations

1950 OO · 1943 EB, 1953 MA · 1963 TT

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

66.64 yr (24,342 days)

Aphelion

2.5023 AU

Perihelion

1.8378 AU

Semi major axis

2.1700 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.20 yr (1,168 days)

Mean anomaly

45.052 °

Inclination

0.9567°

Longitude of ascending node

221.25°

Argument of perihelion

30.351°

Dimensions

6.054 ± 0.098 , 6.515 ± 0.060 km , 7.46 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

7.581 ± 0.002 h

Geometric albedo

0.20 (assumed) , 0.2639 ± 0.0659 , 0.325 ± 0.046

via Wikipedia infobox