Q158184

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

A. Schwassmann

Discovery site

Bergedorf

Discovery date

8 February 1921

Alternative designations

1921 JD

Observation arc

109.28 yr (39915 days)

Aphelion

3.4384 AU (514.38 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0641 AU (308.78 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7513 AU (411.59 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.56 yr (1666.8 d )

Mean anomaly

61.4561 °

Mean motion

0° 12 57.528 / day

Inclination

6.7071°

Longitude of ascending node

48.349°

Argument of perihelion

338.212°

Mean radius

13.45 ± 0.85 km

Synodic rotation period

5.164 h (0.2152 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2937 ± 0.040

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

26.06

Orbital period

1668.681362053066

via Wikidata · CC0