Q854492

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

C. Torres , S. Cofré

Discovery site

Cerro El Roble Stn.

Discovery date

18 July 1968

Named after

Janequeo (or Yanequén), ( Mapuche heroine)

Alternative designations

1968 OB 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

47.89 yr (17,491 days)

Aphelion

2.5550 AU

Perihelion

2.0382 AU

Semi major axis

2.2966 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.48 yr (1,271 days)

Mean anomaly

70.128 °

Mean motion

0° 16 59.52 / day

Inclination

7.9558°

Longitude of ascending node

242.80°

Argument of perihelion

27.574°

Dimensions

2.45 km (calculated) , 3.201 ± 0.290 km

Synodic rotation period

2.480 ± 0.0002 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

3.201

Orbital period

1272.316545539817

via Wikidata · CC0