Q154948

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 Observatory

Discovery date

18 January 1903

Alternative designations

1903 LB; 1943 FC;, 1949 FW; 1951 RB 2 ;, 1951 SE; 1955 FB

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

113.22 yr (41352 d)

Aphelion

3.6114 AU (540.26 Gm )

Perihelion

2.7270 AU (407.95 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1692 AU (474.11 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.64 yr (2060.7 d )

Mean anomaly

201.00 °

Mean motion

0° 10 28.92 / day

Inclination

20.854°

Longitude of ascending node

357.30°

Argument of perihelion

355.03°

Dimensions

77.44 ± 2.3 km

Mass

4.9×10 kg

Mean density

2.0 g/cm

via Wikipedia infobox