Q842319

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

N. Chernykh

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

22 September 1973

Named after

Vltava , (Czech national river )

Alternative designations

1973 SL 2 · 1934 PB, 1936 AE · 1942 EV, 1951 AQ 1 · 1954 UL, 1956 AJ · 1956 CE, 1964 VZ · 1975 AR, 1977 JB 1 · 1978 SO

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Koronis

Observation arc

82.23 yr (30,036 days)

Aphelion

3.0862 AU

Perihelion

2.6337 AU

Semi major axis

2.8600 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.84 yr (1,767 days)

Mean anomaly

11.862 °

Mean motion

0° 12 13.68 / day

Inclination

1.0106°

Longitude of ascending node

311.62°

Argument of perihelion

58.849°

Dimensions

14.42 ± 1.3 km ( IRAS :2) , 14.461 ± 0.186 , 14.800 ± 0.252 km , 15.12 ± 0.75 km

Synodic rotation period

16.2954 ± 0.0282 h , 34.0 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

14.461

Orbital period

1767.192002759975

via Wikidata · CC0