Q158407

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 Obs.

Discovery date

27 March 1922

Named after

Benjamin Jekhowsky Jr. , (discoverer's son)

Alternative designations

A922 FD · A910 AB, 1922 LU · 1910 AB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

109.34 yr (39,935 d)

Aphelion

3.5276 AU

Perihelion

2.8744 AU

Semi major axis

3.2010 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.73 yr (2,092 d)

Mean anomaly

43.757 °

Mean motion

0° 10 19.56 / day

Inclination

7.7121°

Longitude of ascending node

243.76°

Argument of perihelion

319.60°

Mean diameter

79.94 ± 1.16 km 80.53 ± 2.5 km 83.195 ± 0.542 km

Synodic rotation period

9.701 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox