Q156906

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

28 April 1913

Alternative designations

1913 RG

Observation arc

102.86 yr (37571 d)

Aphelion

2.7598 AU (412.86 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1286 AU (318.43 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.4442 AU (365.65 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.82 yr (1395.7 d )

Mean anomaly

73.9970 °

Mean motion

0° 15 28.548 / day

Inclination

3.9510°

Longitude of ascending node

69.710°

Argument of perihelion

72.156°

Earth moid

1.14424 AU (171.176 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.26326 AU (338.579 Gm)

Mean radius

10.285 ± 0.7 km

Synodic rotation period

6.2584 h (0.26077 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

22.526

Orbital period

1395.461317729013

via Wikidata · CC0