Q148393

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

M. B. Protić

Discovery site

Belgrade Obs.

Discovery date

22 October 1952

Named after

Nikola Tesla , (Serbian inventor)

Alternative designations

1952 UW 1 · 1938 UE 1 , 1938 WE · 1949 AA, 1966 UB · 1976 YR 3 , 1980 SV · 1980 TJ 15

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

64.62 yr (23,602 days)

Aphelion

3.3186 AU

Perihelion

2.3020 AU

Semi major axis

2.8103 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.71 yr (1,721 days)

Mean anomaly

260.21 °

Mean motion

0° 12 33.12 / day

Inclination

7.8234°

Longitude of ascending node

106.49°

Argument of perihelion

297.81°

Dimensions

24.377 ± 0.030 km , 29 km

Geometric albedo

0.050 ± 0.003

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

24.377

Orbital period

1720.984575357795

via Wikidata · CC0