Q155762

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

Discovery date

13 April 1906

Pronunciation

/ ɒ k ˈ t eɪ v i ə /

Alternative designations

1906 UC

Observation arc

108.93 yr (39785 d)

Aphelion

3.4513 AU (516.31 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0788 AU (310.98 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7651 AU (413.65 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.60 yr (1679.4 d )

Mean anomaly

163.85 °

Mean motion

0° 12 51.696 / day

Inclination

12.211°

Longitude of ascending node

91.642°

Argument of perihelion

291.808°

Mean radius

36.165 ± 1.95 km

Synodic rotation period

10.8903 h (0.45376 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0521 ± 0.006

via Wikipedia infobox