Q582392

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

J. Helffrich

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

15 October 1909

Named after

Nancy Lou Zissell Marsden , (wife of Brian G. Marsden )

Alternative designations

1909 TB · 1929 VQ, 1942 RA 1 · 1962 XE, 1972 VC 1 · 1974 HL 2

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , background

Observation arc

108.60 yr (39,665 d)

Aphelion

2.5253 AU

Perihelion

1.9098 AU

Semi major axis

2.2175 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.30 yr (1,206 d)

Mean anomaly

303.73 °

Mean motion

0° 17 54.6 / day

Inclination

3.9361°

Longitude of ascending node

225.77°

Argument of perihelion

145.80°

Mean diameter

7.783 ± 0.150 km , 8.227 ± 0.085 km , 10.30 km (calculated) , 11.19 ± 2.42 km

Synodic rotation period

15.0 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

7.783

Orbital period

1206.752277841107

via Wikidata · CC0