Q214387

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

P. P. Henry , 1877

Discovery date

5 November 1877

Alternative designations

A877 VA; 1900 UB;, 1900 VA;1912 HE;, 1937 UA, 1962 DB

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

115.30 yr (42113 d)

Aphelion

3.4260 AU (512.52 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1110 AU (315.80 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7685 AU (414.16 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.61 yr (1682.5 d )

Mean anomaly

42.096 °

Mean motion

0° 12 50.256 / day

Inclination

1.3893°

Longitude of ascending node

347.55°

Argument of perihelion

38.184°

Earth moid

1.11401 AU (166.654 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.03001 AU (303.685 Gm)

Mean radius

36.61 ± 0.8 km

Synodic rotation period

13.856 h (0.5773 d )

via Wikipedia infobox