Q857268

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

28 April 1971

Named after

Henichesk , (Ukrainian town)

Alternative designations

1971 HX · 1974 CN 1 , 1975 VG 2

Minor planet category

main-belt · Baptistina

Observation arc

66.78 yr (24,392 days)

Aphelion

2.6507 AU

Perihelion

1.8877 AU

Semi major axis

2.2692 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.42 yr (1,249 days)

Mean anomaly

175.62 °

Mean motion

0° 17 17.88 / day

Inclination

6.0914°

Longitude of ascending node

154.86°

Argument of perihelion

118.21°

Dimensions

8.804 ± 1.922 km , 12.29 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

11.022 ± 0.002 h , 11.0231 ± 0.0159 h , 11.028 ± 0.006 h

via Wikipedia infobox