Q158453

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

S. Belyavskyj

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

23 September 1917

Named after

Henri Martin , (French historian)

Alternative designations

A917 SW · 1917 Σ92, 1906 SD · 1928 TG, 1942 EY · 1949 MF, 1953 FG · 1959 GF, 1959 JF · 1966 QA, A906 SD

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis

Observation arc

112.98 yr (41,266 d)

Aphelion

3.7284 AU

Perihelion

2.4685 AU

Semi major axis

3.0984 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.45 yr (1,992 d)

Mean anomaly

309.55 °

Mean motion

0° 10 50.52 / day

Inclination

2.0633°

Longitude of ascending node

46.062°

Argument of perihelion

297.91°

Mean diameter

28.87 ± 1.7 km 31.70 ± 1.29 km 32.545 ± 0.124 km

Synodic rotation period

11.267 ± 0.003 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

32.545

Orbital period

1992.952179713068

via Wikidata · CC0