Q154902

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 site

Nice

Discovery date

2 December 1902

Pronunciation

/ ˈ t oʊ k i oʊ /

Alternative designations

1902 KU

Observation arc

112.09 yr (40942 d)

Aphelion

3.2459283 AU (485.58396 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0591298 AU (308.04143 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6525291 AU (396.81271 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.32 yr (1577.9 d )

Mean anomaly

178.62454 °

Mean motion

0° 13 41.327 / day

Inclination

9.493271°

Longitude of ascending node

97.404216°

Argument of perihelion

241.19753°

Mean radius

40.915 ± 1.15 km

Synodic rotation period

41.85 h (1.744 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0694 ± 0.004

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

81.83

Orbital period

1575.492752700363

via Wikidata · CC0