Q545415

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

L. G. Karachkina

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

13 January 1983

Named after

Aleksandr Filipenko, (Crimean surgeon)

Alternative designations

1983 AX 2 · 1936 QK 1 , 1953 SB · 1953 SL, 1955 DO · 1957 KP, 1964 PA · A910 CK

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

63.63 yr (23,242 days)

Aphelion

3.8269 AU

Perihelion

2.5215 AU

Semi major axis

3.1742 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.66 yr (2,066 days)

Mean anomaly

97.252 °

Mean motion

0° 10 27.48 / day

Inclination

16.956°

Longitude of ascending node

326.54°

Argument of perihelion

91.945°

Dimensions

56.08 km (derived) , 56.13 ± 1.4 km , 57.37 ± 0.93 km , 69.492 ± 0.396 km

Synodic rotation period

14.00 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

2893 Peiroos

Follows

Q1047455

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

69.492

Orbital period

2065.709182792116

via Wikidata · CC0