Q157526

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

R. Schorr

Discovery site

Bergedorf Obs.

Discovery date

9 May 1917

Named after

Werner von Melle , (mayor of Hamburg)

Alternative designations

A917 JB · 1931 RC, 1944 OB · 1952 DL 2 , 1917 BV

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

102.66 yr (37,496 d)

Aphelion

3.2807 AU

Perihelion

2.0966 AU

Semi major axis

2.6887 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.41 yr (1,610 d)

Mean anomaly

90.376 °

Mean motion

0° 13 24.96 / day

Inclination

7.8385°

Longitude of ascending node

154.88°

Argument of perihelion

107.09°

Mean diameter

18.45 ± 0.32 km 18.52 ± 0.8 km 21.193 ± 0.090 km

Synodic rotation period

6.5155 ± 0.0005 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

21.193

Orbital period

1613.8239349444

via Wikidata · CC0