Q156976

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

F. Kaiser

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

28 August 1913

Named after

Adam Massinger (1888–1914) , (German astronomer)

Alternative designations

A913 QD · 1941 SL 2 , 1913 SL

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) background

Observation arc

106.27 yr (38,816 d)

Aphelion

3.8806 AU

Perihelion

2.4122 AU

Semi major axis

3.1464 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.58 yr (2,039 d)

Mean anomaly

176.77 °

Mean motion

0° 10 35.76 / day

Inclination

12.539°

Longitude of ascending node

331.55°

Argument of perihelion

200.56°

Dimensions

80.2 km × 56.2 km

Mean diameter

69.103 ± 7.046 km 70.03 ± 1.25 km 71.29 ± 1.9 km

via Wikipedia infobox