Q642400

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

17 February 1950

Named after

Anneliese Schnell, (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1950 DL · 1969 LE, 1977 SF · 1980 JN

Minor planet category

main-belt · background

Observation arc

67.29 yr (24,577 days)

Aphelion

2.7419 AU

Perihelion

2.0403 AU

Semi major axis

2.3911 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.70 yr (1,351 days)

Mean anomaly

8.0166 °

Mean motion

0° 15 59.76 / day

Inclination

5.1408°

Longitude of ascending node

200.48°

Argument of perihelion

51.593°

Dimensions

3.424 ± 0.142 km , 12.18 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

6.328 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

3.424

Orbital period

1349.908261765477

via Wikidata · CC0