Q146986

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

P. Wild

Discovery site

Zimmerwald Obs.

Discovery date

11 September 1969

Named after

Alessandro Binomi, (fictitious mathematician)

Alternative designations

1969 RB · 1971 BX 2 , 1976 QV 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · Vesta

Observation arc

47.52 yr (17,355 days)

Aphelion

2.6515 AU

Perihelion

2.0477 AU

Semi major axis

2.3496 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.60 yr (1,316 days)

Mean anomaly

120.75 °

Mean motion

0° 16 25.32 / day

Inclination

5.5869°

Longitude of ascending node

278.03°

Argument of perihelion

67.217°

Dimensions

5.39 km (calculated) , 6.893 ± 0.164 km , 7.050 ± 0.058 km

Synodic rotation period

3.7555 ± 0.010 h , 3.756 ± 0.0015 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

6.893

Orbital period

1315.321328246361

via Wikidata · CC0