Q158016

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

18 September 1919

Named after

Edgar Schlubach, Henry Frederic Tiarks, ( expedition sponsors )

Alternative designations

A919 SJ · A906 UC, 1919 FW · 1906 UC

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

112.56 yr (41,114 d)

Aphelion

3.2117 AU

Perihelion

2.1667 AU

Semi major axis

2.6892 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.41 yr (1,611 d)

Mean anomaly

314.34 °

Mean motion

0° 13 24.6 / day

Inclination

7.2999°

Longitude of ascending node

205.17°

Argument of perihelion

126.54°

Mean diameter

18.579 ± 0.223 km 18.71 ± 0.76 km

Synodic rotation period

7.856 83 ± 0.000 19 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

19.228

Orbital period

1610.498792050204

via Wikidata · CC0