Q150557

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

Auguste Charlois

Discovery date

3 October 1890

Alternative designations

A890 TB, 1923 LB, 1933 BV, 1950 DV, 1953 PJ, 1953 RO 1 , 1961 AD

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

115.84 yr (42,312 d)

Aphelion

3.38735 AU (506.740 Gm )

Perihelion

3.02385 AU (452.362 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.20560 AU (479.551 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.74 yr (2,096.3 d)

Mean anomaly

312.717 °

Mean motion

0° 10 18.221 / day

Inclination

0.732270°

Longitude of ascending node

42.6693°

Argument of perihelion

325.681°

Dimensions

80.18 ± 2.3 km

Synodic rotation period

6.8423 h (0.28510 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0397 ± 0.002

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

67.373

Orbital period

2093.617879337623

via Wikidata · CC0