Q146044

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

H. van Gent

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs. , ( Leiden Southern Station )

Discovery date

9 September 1934

Named after

John Franklin Adams , (British astronomer)

Alternative designations

1934 RY · 1969 EP 1 , 1970 KH · 1974 KK

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

85.14 yr (31,098 d)

Aphelion

2.9989 AU

Perihelion

2.1046 AU

Semi major axis

2.5517 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.08 yr (1,489 d)

Mean anomaly

11.630 °

Mean motion

0° 14 30.48 / day

Inclination

7.7371°

Longitude of ascending node

113.47°

Argument of perihelion

242.08°

Mean diameter

8.864 ± 0.114 km

Synodic rotation period

2.978 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

8.864

Orbital period

1488.842820354292

Image

001925-asteroid shape model (1925) Franklin-Adams.png

via Wikidata · CC0