Q757151

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

G. van Biesbroeck

Discovery site

Yerkes Obs.

Discovery date

2 December 1923

Named after

George Ellery Hale , (American astronomer)

Alternative designations

A923 YO 13

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

89.22 yr (32,587 d)

Aphelion

3.5095 AU

Perihelion

2.2230 AU

Semi major axis

2.8663 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.85 yr (1,772 d)

Mean anomaly

173.74 °

Mean motion

0° 12 11.16 / day

Inclination

16.090°

Longitude of ascending node

58.856°

Argument of perihelion

307.94°

Mean diameter

28.46 ± 6.70 km , 41.28 km (derived) , 43.274 ± 0.148 km , 45.964 ± 17.12 km , 47.33 ± 8.98 km , 47.674 ± 0.893 km , 48.18 ± 0.78 km , 51.37 ± 15.55 km

Synodic rotation period

16.0 ± 0.1 h

via Wikipedia infobox