Q158499

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

14 November 1922

Alternative designations

1922 ND

Observation arc

93.41 yr (34118 days)

Aphelion

3.2866 AU (491.67 Gm )

Perihelion

2.7715 AU (414.61 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0291 AU (453.15 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.27 yr (1925.6 d )

Mean anomaly

133.184 °

Mean motion

0° 11 13.056 / day

Inclination

10.843°

Longitude of ascending node

212.248°

Argument of perihelion

345.294°

Mean radius

13.665 ± 0.7 km

Synodic rotation period

13.308 h (0.5545 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1132 ± 0.013

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

27.585

Orbital period

1921.431231973101

via Wikidata · CC0