Q766836

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

11 June 1980

Named after

Cambridge (UK) and Cambridge, MA (USA)

Alternative designations

1980 LD · 1931 AP, 1942 EQ · 1952 BG, 1963 FK · 1963 HD, 1971 VY · 1974 KH, A916 FE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos

Observation arc

86.40 yr (31,557 days)

Aphelion

3.1787 AU

Perihelion

2.8383 AU

Semi major axis

3.0085 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.22 yr (1,906 days)

Mean anomaly

199.25 °

Mean motion

0° 11 20.04 / day

Inclination

11.032°

Longitude of ascending node

104.36°

Argument of perihelion

32.390°

Mean diameter

19.15 ± 1.9 km , 19.15 km (derived) , 22.349 ± 0.196 km , 22.911 ± 0.130 km , 23.44 ± 0.95 km

Synodic rotation period

8.80 ± 0.01 h , 12.200 ± 0.0032 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

22.349

Orbital period

1906.861843018292

via Wikidata · CC0