Q157667

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

31 May 1918

Alternative designations

1918 DR

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Alauda

Observation arc

97.87 yr (35747 days)

Aphelion

3.5632 AU (533.05 Gm )

Perihelion

2.8970 AU (433.39 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.2301 AU (483.22 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.81 yr (2120.4 d )

Mean anomaly

83.4390 °

Mean motion

0° 10 11.208 / day

Inclination

21.335°

Longitude of ascending node

175.926°

Argument of perihelion

287.377°

Earth moid

1.98994 AU (297.691 Gm)

Jupiter moid

1.66162 AU (248.575 Gm)

Mean radius

38.01 ± 0.8 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

74.481

Orbital period

2114.308022033145

via Wikidata · CC0