Q144528

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

J. Gibson

Discovery site

El Leoncito Complex

Discovery date

16 August 1971

Named after

Ursula Gibson, (astronomer's wife)

Alternative designations

1971 QZ 1 · 1962 XQ, 1968 QB 1 · 1972 YJ 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

54.27 yr (19,823 days)

Aphelion

2.3955 AU

Perihelion

2.0158 AU

Semi major axis

2.2057 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.28 yr (1,196 days)

Mean anomaly

93.913 °

Mean motion

0° 18 3.24 / day

Inclination

3.8455°

Longitude of ascending node

280.93°

Argument of perihelion

315.11°

Dimensions

7.14 km (calculated) , 7.530 ± 0.119 , 7.693 ± 0.061 km , 7.85 ± 0.29 km , 7.94 ± 0.58 km

Synodic rotation period

3.8186 ± 0.0020 h , 3.818 62 ± 0.0001 , 3.818 80 ± 0.000 05 h

via Wikipedia infobox