Q149639

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. Bowell

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

7 September 1980

Named after

Merlin ( Arthurian legend )

Alternative designations

1980 RY · 1948 WH, 1971 TD 3

Minor planet category

main-belt · Dora

Observation arc

68.44 yr (24,998 days)

Aphelion

3.3861 AU

Perihelion

2.1757 AU

Semi major axis

2.7809 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.64 yr (1,694 days)

Mean anomaly

297.39 °

Mean motion

0° 12 45 / day

Inclination

7.7767°

Longitude of ascending node

197.77°

Argument of perihelion

217.28°

Dimensions

15.694 ± 0.047 km

Geometric albedo

0.049 ± 0.010

via Wikipedia infobox