Q158108

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

Discovery date

7 September 1920

Pronunciation

/ ˈ k l aɪ v i ə /

Alternative designations

1920 HM; 1950 UB

Observation arc

95.60 yr (34917 days)

Aphelion

2.5437 AU (380.53 Gm )

Perihelion

1.8941 AU (283.35 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.2189 AU (331.94 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.31 yr (1207.3 d )

Mean anomaly

318.933 °

Mean motion

0° 17 53.52 / day

Inclination

4.0252°

Longitude of ascending node

346.505°

Argument of perihelion

57.990°

Mean radius

3.935 ± 0.35 km

Synodic rotation period

3.6222 h (0.15093 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1974 ± 0.037

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

6.411

Orbital period

1207.386567231307

via Wikidata · CC0