Q155580

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

Paul Götz

Discovery date

6 April 1905

Pronunciation

German: [ zuːlaɪkaː ]

Alternative designations

1905 QK

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

108.45 yr (39611 d)

Aphelion

3.3510 AU (501.30 Gm )

Perihelion

2.08094 AU (311.304 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.71595 AU (406.300 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.48 yr (1634.9 d )

Mean anomaly

104.420 °

Mean motion

0° 13 12.72 / day

Inclination

10.229°

Longitude of ascending node

85.266°

Argument of perihelion

336.919°

Mean radius

26.645 ± 0.55 km

Synodic rotation period

5.69 h (0.237 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2477 ± 0.010

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

53.29

Orbital period

1631.050692501493

via Wikidata · CC0