Q156493

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

15 August 1909

Alternative designations

1909 HF

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Gersuind

Observation arc

106.67 yr (38960 d)

Aphelion

3.2844 AU (491.34 Gm )

Perihelion

1.8987 AU (284.04 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.5915 AU (387.68 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.17 yr (1523.8 d )

Mean anomaly

236.17 °

Mean motion

0° 14 10.5 / day

Inclination

15.672°

Longitude of ascending node

243.103°

Argument of perihelion

88.883°

Mean radius

20.565 ± 2.25 km

Synodic rotation period

6.3127 h (0.26303 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1416 ± 0.037

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

55.258

Orbital period

1522.260601599296

via Wikidata · CC0