Q835511

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

20 December 1981

Named after

Gregory Jarvis , (Challenger crew member)

Alternative designations

1981 YC

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) · Hungaria

Observation arc

36.76 yr (13,427 days)

Aphelion

2.0208 AU

Perihelion

1.7050 AU

Semi major axis

1.8629 AU

Orbital period sidereal

2.54 yr (929 days)

Mean anomaly

158.84 °

Mean motion

0° 23 15.36 / day

Inclination

21.809°

Longitude of ascending node

245.60°

Argument of perihelion

34.803°

Dimensions

9.70 km (derived) , 9.72 ± 0.5 km , 10.062 ± 0.030 km , 10.07 ± 1.07 km , 10.528 ± 0.044 km , 11.01 ± 2.52 km , 12.49 ± 0.29 km

Synodic rotation period

40.8 ± 0.1 h (dated) , 202.0 ± 0.5 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

10.528

Orbital period

928.7300670298713

via Wikidata · CC0