Q157502

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

15 February 1917

Pronunciation

/ z uː ˈ b aɪ d ə /

Named after

Zobeide , a character in the opera Abu Hassan , ( Carl Maria von Weber )

Alternative designations

A917 CH · 1936 FK 1 , 1970 GQ 1 · A908 WF, 1917 BO · 1908 WF

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , background

Observation arc

110.89 yr (40,502 d)

Aphelion

2.8874 AU

Perihelion

1.9487 AU

Semi major axis

2.4181 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.76 yr (1,373 d)

Mean anomaly

191.81 °

Mean motion

0° 15 43.56 / day

Inclination

13.344°

Longitude of ascending node

176.92°

Argument of perihelion

302.04°

Mean diameter

16.774 ± 3.186 km 16.81 ± 0.21 km 17.77 ± 1.1 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

17.77

Orbital period

1372.088022938257

via Wikidata · CC0