Q370250

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

30 June 1970

Named after

Ozurgeti (Georgian city)

Alternative designations

1970 MC · 1928 TF, 1955 SS 1 · 1955 UA 1 , 1970 PJ · 1974 QN, 1977 ER 1 · A924 RB

Minor planet category

main-belt · Nysa

Observation arc

91.98 yr (33,594 days)

Aphelion

2.9242 AU

Perihelion

1.9997 AU

Semi major axis

2.4619 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.86 yr (1,411 days)

Mean anomaly

54.791 °

Mean motion

0° 15 18.36 / day

Inclination

2.1801°

Longitude of ascending node

256.16°

Argument of perihelion

67.561°

Dimensions

8 km (calculated) , 17.240 ± 0.092 km

Synodic rotation period

11.9759 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

17.24

Orbital period

1411.822831450834

via Wikidata · CC0