Q726599

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

28 December 1942

Named after

Eric S. Fogelin , ( MPC staff member)

Alternative designations

1942 YA · 1952 HC 2 , 1975 VF 9

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia

Observation arc

75.08 yr (27,422 d)

Aphelion

2.8986 AU

Perihelion

2.2836 AU

Semi major axis

2.5911 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.17 yr (1,523 d)

Mean anomaly

354.25 °

Mean motion

0° 14 10.68 / day

Inclination

13.007°

Longitude of ascending node

17.286°

Argument of perihelion

116.18°

Mean diameter

10.067 ± 0.109 km , 10.420 ± 0.089 km , 11.29 ± 0.85 km , 11.55 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

14.07 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

10.067

Orbital period

1522.354256631387

via Wikidata · CC0