Q912717

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

L. Chernykh

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

18 January 1975

Named after

David Kugultinov , (Soviet poet)

Alternative designations

1975 BA 1 · 1941 FM, 1958 DF · 1975 CE, 1978 RM 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · Themis

Observation arc

75.44 yr (27,556 days)

Aphelion

3.7113 AU

Perihelion

2.6512 AU

Semi major axis

3.1813 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.67 yr (2,073 days)

Mean anomaly

180.53 °

Mean motion

0° 10 25.32 / day

Inclination

1.2545°

Longitude of ascending node

42.238°

Argument of perihelion

100.14°

Dimensions

15.10 ± 4.45 km , 20.51 km (calculated) , 21.07 ± 1.77 km , 21.566 ± 0.067 km

Synodic rotation period

8.43 ± 0.02 h , 10 h , 16.850 ± 0.004 h

via Wikipedia infobox