Q157589

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Observatory

Discovery date

22 July 1917

Named after

Ricarda Huch

Alternative designations

1917 CJ

Observation arc

98.74 yr (36066 days)

Aphelion

2.9230 AU (437.27 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1433 AU (320.63 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.5332 AU (378.96 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.03 yr (1472.6 d )

Mean anomaly

167.363 °

Mean motion

0° 14 40.056 / day

Inclination

13.669°

Longitude of ascending node

269.958°

Argument of perihelion

96.549°

Synodic rotation period

82.9 h (3.45 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

18.312

Orbital period

1471.427681047574

via Wikidata · CC0