Q144976

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. U. Cesco , A. G. Samuel

Discovery site

El Leoncito Complex

Discovery date

3 March 1971

Pronunciation

/ d iː ˈ ɪ f ə b ə s /

Named after

Deiphobus (Greek mythology)

Alternative designations

1971 EA

Minor planet category

Jupiter trojan , Trojan · Ennomos

Adjectives

Deiphobian

Observation arc

46.15 yr (16,858 days)

Aphelion

5.3511 AU

Perihelion

4.9040 AU

Semi major axis

5.1276 AU

Orbital period sidereal

11.61 yr (4,241 days)

Mean anomaly

229.96 °

Mean motion

0° 5 5.64 / day

Inclination

26.914°

Longitude of ascending node

283.71°

Argument of perihelion

359.19°

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

118.22

Orbital period

4250.384553603297

via Wikidata · CC0