Q157291

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

G. N. Neujmin

Discovery site

Simeis

Discovery date

25 March 1916

Pronunciation

/ ˌ æ n ə ˈ s t eɪ ʒ ə /

Alternative designations

1916 ZH

Observation arc

102.13 yr (37302 d)

Aphelion

3.1761 AU (475.14 Gm )

Perihelion

2.4106 AU (360.62 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7934 AU (417.89 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.67 yr (1705.3 d )

Mean anomaly

85.1285 °

Mean motion

0° 12 39.996 / day

Inclination

8.1258°

Longitude of ascending node

141.401°

Argument of perihelion

142.050°

Earth moid

1.40012 AU (209.455 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.0096 AU (300.63 Gm)

Mean radius

17.07 ± 2.55 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

32.457

Orbital period

1704.675798460095

via Wikidata · CC0