Q148872

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

9 January 1957

Named after

Kōichirō Tomita , (Japanese astronomer)

Alternative designations

1957 AA · 1929 VX, 1938 BF · 1942 DF, 1957 BA · 1977 KM, 1978 PA 4 · 1980 DC 6

Minor planet category

main-belt · Nysa

Observation arc

87.07 yr (31,804 days)

Aphelion

2.7676 AU

Perihelion

2.1141 AU

Semi major axis

2.4408 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.81 yr (1,393 days)

Mean anomaly

345.07 °

Mean motion

0° 15 30.6 / day

Inclination

3.0111°

Longitude of ascending node

163.32°

Argument of perihelion

282.65°

Dimensions

9.17 km (calculated) , 15.07 ± 4.33 km , 15.20 ± 3.74 km , 16.62 ± 0.23 km , 17.941 ± 0.129 , 19.412 ± 0.175 km

Synodic rotation period

7.9533 ± 0.0005 h , 8.435 ± 0.079 h

via Wikipedia infobox