Q158497

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

O. Struve

Discovery site

Williams Bay

Discovery date

24 October 1922

Alternative designations

1922 NB, 1949 PF, 1950 WG, 1953 GT1, 1975 EE6

Observation arc

80.10 yr (29255 days)

Aphelion

3.6381 AU (544.25 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6458 AU (395.81 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1419 AU (470.02 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.57 yr (2034.2 d )

Mean anomaly

351.48 °

Mean motion

0° 10 37.092 / day

Inclination

2.0696°

Longitude of ascending node

63.255°

Argument of perihelion

254.682°

Mean radius

15.705 ± 1.05 km

Geometric albedo

0.0638 ± 0.009

Spectral type

C

via Wikipedia infobox