Q155627

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

19 September 1905

Pronunciation

/ ˈ r iː k ə / , German: [ ˈʁeːçaː ]

Alternative designations

1905 RC

Observation arc

110.43 yr (40335 d)

Aphelion

3.3562 AU (502.08 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6689 AU (399.26 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0125 AU (450.66 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.23 yr (1909.8 d )

Mean anomaly

55.621 °

Mean motion

0° 11 18.6 / day

Inclination

9.8334°

Longitude of ascending node

342.959°

Argument of perihelion

28.910°

Mean radius

24.00 ± 1.9 km

Synodic rotation period

7.15 h , 7.16633 h (0.298597 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1109 ± 0.020

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q155634

Follows

572 Rebekka

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

47.582

Orbital period

1912.334976515904

Image

573Recha (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0