Q144459

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

P. Wild

Discovery site

Zimmerwald Obs.

Discovery date

17 April 1968

Named after

Seth B. Nicholson , (American astronomer)

Alternative designations

1968 HC · 1948 GF, 1955 ML

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ), Baptistina · Flora

Observation arc

62.92 yr (22,982 d)

Aphelion

2.5257 AU

Perihelion

1.9527 AU

Semi major axis

2.2392 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.35 yr (1,224 d)

Mean anomaly

36.790 °

Mean motion

0° 17 38.76 / day

Inclination

5.6335°

Longitude of ascending node

72.604°

Argument of perihelion

183.46°

Mean diameter

7.10 ± 1.29 km , 8.08 ± 0.47 km

Synodic rotation period

3.228 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

8.083

Orbital period

1223.841828227673

via Wikidata · CC0