Q510350

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

30 December 1981

Named after

Geoffrey Chaucer

Alternative designations

1981 YD · 1963 FB, 1965 UK 1 · 1971 FZ, 1971 JA

Minor planet category

main-belt

Observation arc

63.53 yr (23,204 days)

Aphelion

2.8025 AU

Perihelion

2.1380 AU

Semi major axis

2.4702 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.88 yr (1,418 days)

Mean anomaly

37.757 °

Mean motion

0° 15 14.04 / day

Inclination

3.0533°

Longitude of ascending node

81.815°

Argument of perihelion

46.551°

Dimensions

15.422 ± 0.078 , 27.2 km

Geometric albedo

0.045 ± 0.006 , 0.10

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Geoffrey Chaucer

Followed by

Q922297

Follows

Q1048831

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

15.377

Orbital period

1417.923966268934

via Wikidata · CC0