Q155798

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

Joel Hastings Metcalf

Discovery site

Taunton, Massachusetts

Discovery date

16 February 1906

Alternative designations

1906 TE

Observation arc

110.14 yr (40230 d)

Aphelion

3.8535 AU (576.48 Gm )

Perihelion

2.3147 AU (346.27 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0841 AU (461.37 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.42 yr (1978.3 d )

Mean anomaly

235.763 °

Mean motion

0° 10 55.092 / day

Inclination

15.107°

Longitude of ascending node

331.497°

Argument of perihelion

45.906°

Mean radius

62.36 ± 1.1 km , 63.975 ± 1.43 km

Mass

(1.02 ± 0.05) × 10 kg

Mean density

9.29 ± 0.76 g/cm

Synodic rotation period

35.195 h (1.4665 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q155807

Follows

601 Nerthus

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

110.444

Orbital period

1974.435465032381

via Wikidata · CC0