Q154548

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

31 October 1900

Alternative designations

1900 FS; 1926 TC; 1932 FG; 1959 NR

Observation arc

115.34 yr (42127 d)

Aphelion

2.926666564841749 AU (437.82308634920 Gm )

Perihelion

1.868854585623135 AU (279.57666665715 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.397760575232 AU (358.6998765031 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.71 yr (1356.1 d )

Mean anomaly

75.32067165114480 °

Mean motion

0° 15 55.648 / day

Inclination

13.54376742339310°

Longitude of ascending node

36.53394009335470°

Argument of perihelion

329.2209343525260°

Dimensions

19.97 ± 1.5 km

Synodic rotation period

6.206 h (0.2586 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0829 ± 0.014

Spectral type

T

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

20.908

Orbital period

1356.755109625287

via Wikidata · CC0