Q277481

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

E. Bowell

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

8 November 1980

Named after

"rock" in Hopi

Alternative designations

1980 VJ · 1926 VD, 1953 TJ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora · background

Observation arc

91.29 yr (33,345 d)

Aphelion

2.6438 AU

Perihelion

1.8565 AU

Semi major axis

2.2502 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.38 yr (1,233 d)

Mean anomaly

12.319 °

Mean motion

0° 17 31.2 / day

Inclination

4.7966°

Longitude of ascending node

279.91°

Argument of perihelion

131.33°

Mean diameter

5.40 ± 0.25 km , 5.76 ± 0.91 km , 5.933 ± 0.160 km , 6.81 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

3.56 ± 0.01 h , 3.563 ± 0.002 h , 3.563 h , 3.5641 ± 0.0001 h , 3.567 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

5.933

Orbital period

1232.593244825046

via Wikidata · CC0