Q157305

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

M. F. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

28 April 1916

Named after

unknown

Alternative designations

A916 HD · 1930 MG, 1934 HE · 1935 SW 1 , 1948 PJ 1 · 1957 QC, 1962 UK · 1962 VC, 1916 ZO

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) background

Observation arc

103.52 yr (37,809 d)

Aphelion

3.2705 AU

Perihelion

2.1532 AU

Semi major axis

2.7119 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.47 yr (1,631 d)

Mean anomaly

51.962 °

Mean motion

0° 13 14.52 / day

Inclination

7.1048°

Longitude of ascending node

230.22°

Argument of perihelion

36.697°

Mean diameter

19.28 ± 2.3 km 21.83 ± 0.43 km 22.556 ± 0.258 km

Synodic rotation period

5.9846 ± 0.0001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

22.556

Orbital period

1632.030562599685

via Wikidata · CC0