Q153213

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

J. E. Mueller

Discovery site

Palomar Obs.

Discovery date

23 August 1987

Named after

Bastet , (Egyptian goddess of cats)

Alternative designations

1987 QA

Minor planet category

NEO · Apollo , Mars-crosser

Observation arc

29.02 yr (10,600 days)

Aphelion

2.4183 AU

Perihelion

0.8759 AU

Semi major axis

1.6471 AU

Orbital period sidereal

2.11 yr (772 days)

Mean anomaly

28.670 °

Mean motion

0° 27 58.32 / day

Inclination

40.716°

Longitude of ascending node

169.22°

Argument of perihelion

278.92°

Earth moid

0.1714 AU · 66.8 LD

Dimensions

1.30 ± 0.09 km , 1.96 km (calculated)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Orbital period

772.1348062424073

via Wikidata · CC0