Q155464

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

Discovery date

14 December 1904

Pronunciation

German: [ ˈziːɡəlɪndə ]

Alternative designations

1904 PO

Observation arc

111.22 yr (40623 d)

Aphelion

3.4289 AU (512.96 Gm )

Perihelion

2.8723 AU (429.69 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1506 AU (471.32 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.59 yr (2042.6 d )

Mean anomaly

154.941 °

Mean motion

0° 10 34.464 / day

Inclination

7.6961°

Longitude of ascending node

266.936°

Argument of perihelion

348.530°

Mean radius

38.78 ± 1.35 km

Synodic rotation period

17.156 h (0.7148 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0510 ± 0.004

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

88.697

Orbital period

2042.79042366534

via Wikidata · CC0