Q146613

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

A. Bohrmann

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

24 February 1938

Named after

Johann Titius (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1938 DX 1 · 1966 TF

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

79.27 yr (28,955 days)

Aphelion

2.5750 AU

Perihelion

2.2643 AU

Semi major axis

2.4196 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.76 yr (1,375 days)

Mean anomaly

335.11 °

Mean motion

0° 15 42.84 / day

Inclination

7.6265°

Longitude of ascending node

351.78°

Argument of perihelion

246.70°

Dimensions

10.79 km (calculated) , 14.24 ± 0.17 km , 14.782 ± 0.081 km , 15.98 ± 0.35 km

Synodic rotation period

6.13 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox