Q158147

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

J. Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna Obs.

Discovery date

10 October 1920

Named after

Gilbert Murray , (British scholar)

Alternative designations

A920 TF · 1969 FF, 1920 HV

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

99.24 yr (36,247 d)

Aphelion

3.3295 AU

Perihelion

2.2358 AU

Semi major axis

2.7826 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.64 yr (1,695 d)

Mean anomaly

159.44 °

Mean motion

0° 12 44.28 / day

Inclination

6.6258°

Longitude of ascending node

52.309°

Argument of perihelion

334.93°

Mean diameter

18.217 ± 0.072 km

Synodic rotation period

3.390 ± 0.004 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

18.217

Orbital period

1696.996715085097

via Wikidata · CC0