Q158125

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

4 October 1920

Alternative designations

1920 HR; 1930 QP;, 1957 QE; 1957 UU

Observation arc

95.52 yr (34889 days)

Aphelion

2.6449 AU (395.67 Gm )

Perihelion

1.8501 AU (276.77 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.2475 AU (336.22 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.37 yr (1230.7 d )

Mean anomaly

189.16 °

Mean motion

0° 17 33.072 / day

Inclination

2.5864°

Longitude of ascending node

327.137°

Argument of perihelion

5.9622°

Synodic rotation period

2.9173 h (0.12155 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

10.39

Orbital period

1231.023345185844

via Wikidata · CC0