Q158249

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

B. Jekhovsky

Discovery site

Algiers

Discovery date

29 April 1921

Alternative designations

1921 JT

Observation arc

88.30 yr (32251 days)

Aphelion

3.3166 AU (496.16 Gm )

Perihelion

2.2559 AU (337.48 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7863 AU (416.82 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.65 yr (1698.8 d )

Mean anomaly

106.695 °

Mean motion

0° 12 42.912 / day

Inclination

8.6667°

Longitude of ascending node

36.431°

Argument of perihelion

259.972°

Mean radius

14.165 ± 0.55 km

Synodic rotation period

7.389 h (0.3079 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1670 ± 0.013

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

24.062

Orbital period

1699.961585950549

via Wikidata · CC0