Q158171

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. Comas Solà

Discovery site

Barcelona

Discovery date

3 February 1921

Alternative designations

1921 JB

Observation arc

92.54 yr (33802 days)

Aphelion

3.0656 AU (458.61 Gm )

Perihelion

2.2037 AU (329.67 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6347 AU (394.15 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.28 yr (1562.0 d )

Mean anomaly

115.327 °

Mean motion

0° 13 49.692 / day

Inclination

32.896°

Longitude of ascending node

318.298°

Argument of perihelion

162.067°

Mean radius

12.735 ± 0.6 km

Synodic rotation period

7.36 h (0.307 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2416 ± 0.024

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

25.618

Orbital period

1565.29192979279

Image

945 Barcelona orbit on 01 Jan 2009.png

via Wikidata · CC0