Q144849

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. V. Zhuravleva

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

4 September 1972

Named after

Sofia Kovalevskaya , (Russian mathematician)

Alternative designations

1972 RS 2 · 1932 RD, 1941 BQ · 1942 HH, 1949 PU · 1949 QW, 1950 TM 4 · 1953 EK 1 , 1966 PC 1 · A915 TK

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

101.37 yr (37,027 days)

Aphelion

3.5272 AU

Perihelion

2.8909 AU

Semi major axis

3.2091 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.75 yr (2,100 days)

Mean anomaly

38.805 °

Mean motion

0° 10 17.04 / day

Inclination

7.7011°

Longitude of ascending node

343.30°

Argument of perihelion

244.92°

Dimensions

34.40 km (calculated) , 44.634 ± 0.097 , 46.02 ± 1.6 km ( IRAS :14) , 48.798 ± 0.424 km

Synodic rotation period

11.1084 ± 0.0066 h

via Wikipedia infobox