Q151372

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

N. G. Thomas

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

6 February 1981

Pronunciation

/ m ə ˈ k ɔː l ɪ f /

Named after

Christa McAuliffe , (Challenger crew member)

Alternative designations

1981 CW

Minor planet category

NEO · Amor

Observation arc

36.34 yr (13,275 days)

Aphelion

2.5725 AU

Perihelion

1.1855 AU

Semi major axis

1.8790 AU

Orbital period sidereal

2.58 yr (941 days)

Mean anomaly

73.070 °

Mean motion

0° 22 57.72 / day

Inclination

4.7727°

Longitude of ascending node

107.37°

Argument of perihelion

15.941°

Earth moid

0.2041 AU · 79.5 LD

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Orbital period

940.8099177888391

via Wikidata · CC0