Q151009

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

11 October 1891

Named after

Katharina Pohl

Minor planet category

Main belt ( Eos )

Observation arc

108.42 yr (39602 d)

Aphelion

3.36300 AU (503.098 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6595 AU (397.86 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.01122 AU (450.472 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.23 yr (1908.6 d )

Mean anomaly

315.691 °

Mean motion

0° 11 19.036 / day

Inclination

9.3783°

Longitude of ascending node

219.929°

Argument of perihelion

150.129°

Dimensions

17 - 37 km

Synodic rotation period

6.893 h (0.2872 d )

Geometric albedo

0.3207-0.0677

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

23.362

Orbital period

1909.410856765427

via Wikidata · CC0