Q156483

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

A. Kopff

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

8 August 1909

Named after

unknown

Alternative designations

A909 PB · 1928 PB, 1938 CT · 1909 HD

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , background

Observation arc

110.43 yr (40,335 d)

Aphelion

2.5172 AU

Perihelion

2.3461 AU

Semi major axis

2.4317 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.79 yr (1,385 d)

Mean anomaly

122.80 °

Mean motion

0° 15 35.64 / day

Inclination

5.5224°

Longitude of ascending node

336.36°

Argument of perihelion

290.44°

Mean diameter

16.28 ± 0.34 km 19.040 ± 0.188 km

Synodic rotation period

15.89 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

19.04

Orbital period

1384.99637537063

via Wikidata · CC0