Q157252

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Observatory

Discovery date

21 February 1916

Pronunciation

/ k æ p ˈ t eɪ n i ə /

Alternative designations

1916 YZ

Observation arc

99.92 yr (36496 d)

Aphelion

3.4695 AU (519.03 Gm )

Perihelion

2.8693 AU (429.24 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1694 AU (474.14 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.64 yr (2060.9 d )

Mean anomaly

38.374 °

Mean motion

0° 10 28.848 / day

Inclination

15.664°

Longitude of ascending node

70.816°

Argument of perihelion

293.096°

Earth moid

1.91242 AU (286.094 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.0269 AU (303.22 Gm)

Mean radius

24.725 ± 1.95 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

64.255

Orbital period

2064.90890338898

via Wikidata · CC0