Q157315

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 August 1916

Pronunciation

/ æ k ə ˈ d iː m i ə /

Alternative designations

1916 ZY

Observation arc

101.67 yr (37136 d)

Aphelion

2.8379 AU (424.54 Gm )

Perihelion

2.3219 AU (347.35 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.5799 AU (385.95 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.14 yr (1513.6 d )

Mean anomaly

353.330 °

Mean motion

0° 14 16.26 / day

Inclination

8.2839°

Longitude of ascending node

352.504°

Argument of perihelion

41.183°

Earth moid

1.33238 AU (199.321 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.57443 AU (385.129 Gm)

Mean radius

21.88 ± 0.65 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

42.685

Orbital period

1514.064715236303

via Wikidata · CC0