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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

A. Kopff

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

4 October 1907

Named after

Sendai (Japanese city)

Alternative designations

A907 TC · 1968 TO, 1973 DN · 1981 UX, 1984 QG 1 · A907 XA

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

109.19 yr (39,882 days)

Aphelion

2.5314 AU

Perihelion

1.8299 AU

Semi major axis

2.1806 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.22 yr (1,176 days)

Mean anomaly

44.618 °

Mean motion

0° 18 21.96 / day

Inclination

6.5666°

Longitude of ascending node

37.160°

Argument of perihelion

358.26°

Dimensions

7.25 ± 0.30 km , 7.47 km (calculated) , 8.323 ± 0.066 km

Synodic rotation period

5.7491 ± 0.0008 h , 5.776 ± 0.005 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Sendai

Followed by

3134 Kostinsky

Follows

Q150905

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

7.249

Orbital period

1176.472529620103

via Wikidata · CC0