Q247136

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

T. Smirnova

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

13 June 1969

Named after

Virgin Lands Campaign , (agricultural program)

Alternative designations

1969 LG · 1928 RS, 1928 SO · 1951 AR 1 , 1968 HB 1 · 1975 RE, 1976 YF

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos

Observation arc

48.47 yr (17,703 days)

Aphelion

3.3041 AU

Perihelion

2.7299 AU

Semi major axis

3.0170 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.24 yr (1,914 days)

Mean anomaly

318.00 °

Mean motion

0° 11 17.16 / day

Inclination

10.503°

Longitude of ascending node

167.17°

Argument of perihelion

232.54°

Mean diameter

22.773 ± 0.247 km , 22.830 ± 0.208 km , 24.54 ± 2.8 km , 33.02 ± 0.64 km

Synodic rotation period

6.563 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

22.773

Orbital period

1913.501771650965

via Wikidata · CC0