Q145995

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

E. Johnson

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

25 April 1949

Named after

Zulu (tribe)

Alternative designations

1949 HC

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , 2:1 res

Observation arc

67.70 yr (24,727 days)

Aphelion

4.7945 AU

Perihelion

1.6775 AU

Semi major axis

3.2360 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.82 yr (2,126 days)

Mean anomaly

187.91 °

Mean motion

0° 10 9.48 / day

Inclination

35.446°

Longitude of ascending node

226.53°

Argument of perihelion

31.395°

Earth moid

0.7153 AU

Jupiter moid

0.6296 AU

via Wikipedia infobox