Q156392

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

Discovery date

21 September 1908

Pronunciation

/ ə ˈ s t ɑːr t iː /

Alternative designations

1908 DY

Observation arc

109.04 yr (39826 d)

Aphelion

2.9012 AU (434.01 Gm )

Perihelion

2.2093 AU (330.51 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.5553 AU (382.27 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.08 yr (1492.0 d )

Mean anomaly

199.236 °

Mean motion

0° 14 28.644 / day

Inclination

11.125°

Longitude of ascending node

343.936°

Argument of perihelion

308.810°

Dimensions

28.5 ± 1.3 km , 32.3 ± 1.0 km

Synodic rotation period

22.572 h (0.9405 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

35.584

Orbital period

1491.560182714716

via Wikidata · CC0