Q146093

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

Y. Väisälä

Discovery site

Turku Obs.

Discovery date

20 January 1939

Named after

Kollaa River , ( river in Karelia )

Alternative designations

1939 BS · 1939 CH, 1943 GG · 1968 BH, 1976 JF 3

Minor planet category

main-belt · Vestian

Observation arc

48.64 yr (17,766 days)

Aphelion

2.5396 AU

Perihelion

2.1862 AU

Semi major axis

2.3629 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.63 yr (1,327 days)

Mean anomaly

226.60 °

Mean motion

0° 16 17.04 / day

Inclination

7.7797°

Longitude of ascending node

65.429°

Argument of perihelion

71.220°

Dimensions

6.06 km (calculated) , 6.71 ± 0.34 km , 7.772 ± 0.147 km

Synodic rotation period

2.980 ± 0.005 h , 2.9887 ± 0.0004 h

via Wikipedia infobox