Q157681

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

4 June 1918

Named after

Erda, goddess in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen , ( Norse mythology )

Alternative designations

A918 LA · 1973 QB, A907 JC · 1907 JC, A912 HD · 1912 HD, 1918 DT

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

112.73 yr (41,173 d)

Aphelion

3.4642 AU

Perihelion

2.7752 AU

Semi major axis

3.1197 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.51 yr (2,013 d)

Mean anomaly

150.20 °

Mean motion

0° 10 44.04 / day

Inclination

12.733°

Longitude of ascending node

190.61°

Argument of perihelion

116.33°

Mean diameter

28.309 ± 1.544 km 36.54 ± 1.8 km 37.84 ± 0.45 km

Synodic rotation period

4.6897 ± 0.0003 h

via Wikipedia infobox