Q269757

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

N. Chernykh

Discovery site

Crimea–Nauchnij

Discovery date

22 September 1973

Named after

Sheragul, ( Siberian village)

Alternative designations

1973 SY 2 · 1929 PN, 1929 PP · 1952 FJ 1 , 1956 RN · A915 HC

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

87.14 yr (31,829 days)

Aphelion

2.6601 AU

Perihelion

1.8296 AU

Semi major axis

2.2449 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.36 yr (1,229 days)

Mean anomaly

84.005 °

Mean motion

0° 17 34.8 / day

Inclination

3.9724°

Longitude of ascending node

346.26°

Argument of perihelion

306.35°

Dimensions

6.80 ± 0.41 km , 6.988 ± 0.080 km , 7.00 ± 0.50 km , 7.241 ± 0.031 km , 7.47 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

5.41 ± 0.01 h , 5.413 ± 0.001 h , 5.4203 ± 0.0003 h , 5.420 26 ± 0.000 15 h , 5.45 ± 0.05 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

6.988

Orbital period

1227.984773435601

via Wikidata · CC0