Q782906

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

T. Smirnova

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

4 August 1970

Named after

Bulgaria , (European country)

Alternative designations

1970 PL · 1970 QD, 1977 RQ 6 · 1980 PY, A923 PB

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

93.80 yr (34,259 days)

Aphelion

2.5157 AU

Perihelion

1.9645 AU

Semi major axis

2.2401 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.35 yr (1,225 days)

Mean anomaly

79.666 °

Mean motion

0° 17 38.4 / day

Inclination

4.6737°

Longitude of ascending node

321.99°

Argument of perihelion

287.29°

Dimensions

6.41 ± 0.29 km , 7.08 km (calculated) , 8.010 ± 0.065 km

Synodic rotation period

8.6157 ± 0.0082 h , 9.480 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

6.409

Orbital period

1225.403498870513

via Wikidata · CC0