Q156499

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

J. Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna

Discovery date

16 August 1909

Alternative designations

1909 HG

Observation arc

97.38 yr (35569 d)

Aphelion

3.4628 AU (518.03 Gm )

Perihelion

1.9794 AU (296.11 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7211 AU (407.07 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.49 yr (1639.5 d )

Mean anomaly

260.701 °

Mean motion

0° 13 10.488 / day

Inclination

14.878°

Longitude of ascending node

334.346°

Argument of perihelion

52.932°

Mean diameter

22 ± 0.5 km

Mass

1.9 × 10 kg (estimate)

Synodic rotation period

7.40 h (0.308 d )

Temperature

unknown

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

21.533

Orbital period

1641.97226965818

Image

Орбита астероида 687.png

via Wikidata · CC0