Q26772

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

C. Jackson

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

28 April 1932

Named after

Zambezi basin , (southern Africa)

Alternative designations

1932 HL · 1947 TE, 1948 AC · 1967 EF, A908 BF

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , background

Observation arc

109.42 yr (39,966 days)

Aphelion

3.2569 AU

Perihelion

2.2201 AU

Semi major axis

2.7385 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.53 yr (1,655 days)

Mean anomaly

139.42 °

Mean motion

0° 13 3 / day

Inclination

10.163°

Longitude of ascending node

350.01°

Argument of perihelion

52.968°

Dimensions

42.16 ± 11.24 km , 47.54 km (derived) , 47.594 ± 0.347 km , 47.70 ± 1.6 km , 52.668 ± 0.952 km , 53.70 ± 3.05 km , 62.23 ± 0.79 km , 72.818 ± 22.99 km

Synodic rotation period

15.72 ± 0.14 h , 17.305 h , > 24 h (poor)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

47.594

Orbital period

1652.414767919027

via Wikidata · CC0