Q645862

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

14 April 1980

Named after

Royal Greenwich Observatory , (historical observatory)

Alternative designations

1980 GA · 1969 KC, 1978 VZ 14

Minor planet category

main-belt · Phocaea

Observation arc

47.96 yr (17,517 days)

Aphelion

2.8663 AU

Perihelion

1.8899 AU

Semi major axis

2.3781 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.67 yr (1,340 days)

Mean anomaly

81.928 °

Mean motion

0° 16 7.68 / day

Inclination

25.355°

Longitude of ascending node

49.015°

Argument of perihelion

141.10°

Mean diameter

7.892 ± 0.100 , 9.197 ± 0.064 km , 9.25 km (taken) , 9.252 km , 9.50 ± 0.43 km

Synodic rotation period

24 h

via Wikipedia infobox