Q155021

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

M. F. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

23 June 1903

Pronunciation

/ t ɔːr ɪ ˈ n ɛ n s ɪ s /

Named after

Turin (Italian city)

Alternative designations

1903 LV · A909 GE

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser

Observation arc

108.23 yr (39,532 days)

Aphelion

2.7466 AU

Perihelion

1.6323 AU

Semi major axis

2.1895 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.24 yr (1,183 days)

Mean anomaly

30.908 °

Mean motion

0° 18 15.12 / day

Inclination

8.7463°

Longitude of ascending node

107.04°

Argument of perihelion

249.36°

Earth moid

0.6518 AU · 253.9 LD

via Wikipedia infobox