Q150423

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

Johann Palisa

Discovery date

17 August 1890

Named after

Unknown

Alternative designations

A890 QA

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

116.73 yr (42635 d)

Aphelion

3.27560 AU (490.023 Gm )

Perihelion

2.31460 AU (346.259 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.79510 AU (418.141 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.67 yr (1706.8 d )

Mean anomaly

266.698 °

Mean motion

0° 12 39.294 / day

Inclination

2.70824°

Longitude of ascending node

276.055°

Argument of perihelion

148.036°

Dimensions

27.72 ± 1.9 km

Synodic rotation period

10.730 h (0.4471 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1930 ± 0.029

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

28.34

Orbital period

1709.778564504631

via Wikidata · CC0