Q157716

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

Discovery date

3 August 1918

Pronunciation

German: [ joːkastə ] , Classically: p / dʒ oʊ ˈ k æ s t iː /

Alternative designations

1918 EB

Observation arc

97.71 yr (35688 days)

Aphelion

3.4884 AU (521.86 Gm )

Perihelion

2.3242 AU (347.70 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.9063 AU (434.78 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.95 yr (1809.7 d )

Mean anomaly

229.912 °

Mean motion

0° 11 56.148 / day

Inclination

12.467°

Longitude of ascending node

252.430°

Argument of perihelion

127.690°

Earth moid

1.35068 AU (202.059 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.07017 AU (309.693 Gm)

Mean radius

13.845 ± 0.45 km

via Wikipedia infobox