Q149100

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

Alphonse Borrelly

Discovery date

6 March 1885

Named after

Asporina

Alternative designations

A885 EA

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

130.96 yr (47834 d)

Aphelion

2.98941 AU (447.209 Gm )

Perihelion

2.39768 AU (358.688 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.69355 AU (402.949 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.42 yr (1614.7 d )

Average orbital speed

18.14 km/s

Mean anomaly

172.414 °

Mean motion

0° 13 22.638 / day

Inclination

15.6259°

Longitude of ascending node

162.347°

Argument of perihelion

96.6218°

Dimensions

60.10 ± 4.2 km

Synodic rotation period

16.222 h (0.6759 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

50.891

Orbital period

1618.155509137233

via Wikidata · CC0