Q156583

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. Helffrich

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

14 February 1910

Pronunciation

/ ɡ æ l ɪ ˈ l iː ə /

Alternative designations

1910 JO

Observation arc

106.00 yr (38717 d)

Aphelion

3.3305 AU (498.24 Gm )

Perihelion

2.4292 AU (363.40 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.8799 AU (430.83 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.89 yr (1785.1 d )

Mean anomaly

62.6388 °

Mean motion

0° 12 6.012 / day

Inclination

15.143°

Longitude of ascending node

15.542°

Argument of perihelion

333.222°

Mean radius

40.07 ± 0.85 km

Synodic rotation period

16.538 h (0.6891 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0387 ± 0.002

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

80.14

Orbital period

1786.717580117556

via Wikidata · CC0