Q151791

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

17 January 1893

Pronunciation

/ ɛ l i ə ˈ n ɔːr ə /

Alternative designations

1893 A

Minor planet category

Main belt

Adjectives

Eleonorian

Observation arc

123.16 yr (44983 d)

Aphelion

3.1188 AU (466.57 Gm )

Perihelion

2.47676 AU (370.518 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.79777 AU (418.540 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.68 yr (1709.3 d )

Mean anomaly

123.762 °

Mean motion

0° 12 38.196 / day

Inclination

18.403°

Longitude of ascending node

140.37°

Argument of perihelion

5.5215°

Mean diameter

165 ± 3 km , 154.3 ± 5.6 km , 148.970 ± 0.425 km

Mass

(7.5 ± 2.7) × 10 kg , (7.18 ± 2.57) × 10 kg , (6.236 ± 1.305/1.214) × 10 kg

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

148.97

Orbital period

1711.963555942836

Image

354Eleonora (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0