Q158259

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

5 August 1921

Alternative designations

1921 JV

Observation arc

94.46 yr (34502 days)

Aphelion

3.3442 AU (500.29 Gm )

Perihelion

1.8501 AU (276.77 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.5971 AU (388.52 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.19 yr (1528.7 d )

Mean anomaly

294.34 °

Mean motion

0° 14 7.764 / day

Inclination

10.690°

Longitude of ascending node

351.487°

Argument of perihelion

282.412°

Mean radius

8.665 ± 0.5 km

Synodic rotation period

5.19 h (0.216 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2135 ± 0.028

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

17.33

Orbital period

1526.689304896168

via Wikidata · CC0