Q854397

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

Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )

Discovery site

Goethe Link Obs.

Discovery date

30 March 1955

Named after

Frederick Gardner Cottrell , (American chemist)

Alternative designations

1955 FF · 1951 EL 1 , 1972 TE 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

66.15 yr (24,163 days)

Aphelion

2.7290 AU

Perihelion

2.1638 AU

Semi major axis

2.4464 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.83 yr (1,398 days)

Mean anomaly

135.21 °

Mean motion

0° 15 27.36 / day

Inclination

2.4510°

Longitude of ascending node

311.10°

Argument of perihelion

211.67°

Dimensions

7.46 km (calculated) , 11.43 ± 2.35 km , 13.19 ± 0.55 km , 13.97 ± 7.02 km , 14.279 ± 0.071 km

Synodic rotation period

4.499 ± 0.0014 h , 4.499 ± 0.0010 h , 4.4994 ± 0.0004 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

14.279

Orbital period

1397.572094957215

via Wikidata · CC0