Q145681

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

N. Chernykh

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

11 September 1972

Named after

Yevgeniya Rudneva , (Soviet geodesist and war hero)

Alternative designations

1972 RC 2 · 1935 QX, 1938 EY · 1938 FK, 1942 EH · 1942 EM 1 , 1950 EP · 1950 FB, 1950 HL · 1958 DD, 1958 FN · 1970 CP

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

79.66 yr (29,094 days)

Aphelion

2.6541 AU

Perihelion

2.4386 AU

Semi major axis

2.5464 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.06 yr (1,484 days)

Mean anomaly

181.05 °

Mean motion

0° 14 33.36 / day

Inclination

3.2198°

Longitude of ascending node

152.07°

Argument of perihelion

59.096°

Dimensions

10.977 ± 0.108 km , 10.98 ± 0.43 km , 11.32 ± 2.95 km , 11.83 km (calculated) , 11.848 ± 0.140 km

Synodic rotation period

44 ± 3 h (poor)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

10.977

Orbital period

1482.950543629244

via Wikidata · CC0