Q156176

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

August Kopff

Discovery site

Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory

Discovery date

4 October 1907

Pronunciation

/ æ n t ɪ ˈ k l iː ə /

Named after

Anticlea

Alternative designations

1907 AN

Minor planet category

Main belt

Aphelion

3.3185 AU

Perihelion

2.7319 AU

Semi major axis

3.02523 AU

Orbital period sidereal

1921.93 days (5.26 years)

Mean anomaly

86.86°

Inclination

10.767°

Longitude of ascending node

38.203°

Argument of perihelion

355.742°

Dimensions

33.04 ± 2.2 km (mean)

Synodic rotation period

20.291 ± 0.003 h 20.287 ± 0.004 h

Geometric albedo

0.1603 ± 0.024

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

31.895

Orbital period

1918.675412191115

via Wikidata · CC0