Q151151

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

3 January 1981

Named after

Eleanor F. Helin , (American astronomer)

Alternative designations

1981 AA

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser , Phocaea

Observation arc

36.49 yr (13,329 d)

Aphelion

3.0178 AU

Perihelion

1.6424 AU

Semi major axis

2.3301 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.56 yr (1,299 d)

Mean anomaly

196.67 °

Mean motion

0° 16 37.56 / day

Inclination

24.021°

Longitude of ascending node

110.47°

Argument of perihelion

307.73°

Mean diameter

6.45 ± 1.44 km , 7.58 ± 0.76 km , 13.56 ± 1.1 km , 13.59 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

6.8782 ± 0.0011 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Eleanor F. Helin

Followed by

3268 De Sanctis

Follows

Q673004

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

6.44

Orbital period

1298.83397683896

via Wikidata · CC0