Q146781

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

22 September 1973

Named after

Elena Polonskaïa , (Russian astronomer)

Alternative designations

1973 SB 3 · 1941 SD, 1948 QH · 1966 VC

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

70.93 yr (25,909 d)

Aphelion

2.7721 AU

Perihelion

1.8777 AU

Semi major axis

2.3249 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.55 yr (1,295 d)

Mean anomaly

107.39 °

Mean motion

0° 16 40.8 / day

Inclination

4.9106°

Longitude of ascending node

0.8717°

Argument of perihelion

24.849°

Mean diameter

4.625 ± 0.163 km , 4.804 km

Mean density

1.6 g/cm (est.)

via Wikipedia infobox