Q150938

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

8 September 1891

Minor planet category

Main belt ( Themis )

Observation arc

124.27 yr (45391 d)

Aphelion

3.61240 AU (540.407 Gm )

Perihelion

2.7458 AU (410.77 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1791 AU (475.59 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.67 yr (2070.4 d )

Mean anomaly

315.703 °

Mean motion

0° 10 25.968 / day

Inclination

2.3390°

Longitude of ascending node

123.921°

Argument of perihelion

314.741°

Mean diameter

47.92 ± 1.9 km

Synodic rotation period

8.605 h (0.3585 d ) , 8.605 ± 0.01 hours

Geometric albedo

0.0925 ± 0.008

Absolute magnitude h

10.1, 9.87

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

56.067

Orbital period

2075.704045479145

via Wikidata · CC0