Q157409

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. Neujmin

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

5 September 1915

Named after

Inna Nikolaevna Leman-Balanovskaya, (Russian astronomer)

Alternative designations

A915 RQ · 1932 WJ, 1934 AC · 1934 CM 1 , 1934 CV · 1937 RD, 1959 TJ · A905 YA, 1915 XS · 1905 YA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis

Observation arc

114.10 yr (41,676 d)

Aphelion

3.6160 AU

Perihelion

2.6039 AU

Semi major axis

3.1100 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.48 yr (2,003 d)

Mean anomaly

56.581 °

Mean motion

0° 10 46.92 / day

Inclination

1.0538°

Longitude of ascending node

207.82°

Argument of perihelion

125.37°

Mean diameter

33.027 ± 0.130 km

Synodic rotation period

unknown

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

33.027

Orbital period

2003.246336790647

via Wikidata · CC0