Q148206

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

E. Delporte

Discovery site

Uccle Obs.

Discovery date

24 September 1935

Named after

Jean Meeus , (Belgian astronomer)

Alternative designations

1935 SO 1 · 1958 XM, 1961 TG · 1974 RB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , background · Flora

Observation arc

82.34 yr (30,075 d)

Aphelion

2.6972 AU

Perihelion

1.6983 AU

Semi major axis

2.1977 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.26 yr (1,190 d)

Mean anomaly

126.11 °

Mean motion

0° 18 9 / day

Inclination

5.3321°

Longitude of ascending node

126.93°

Argument of perihelion

222.18°

Mean diameter

4.59 ± 0.28 km , 4.889 ± 0.028 km , 5.194 ± 0.032 km , 5.67 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

2.651 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

4.889

Orbital period

1190.127420208009

via Wikidata · CC0