Q912725

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. Brožek

Discovery site

Kleť Obs.

Discovery date

16 April 1980

Named after

Magion 1 , (Czechoslovak satellite )

Alternative designations

1980 HB · 1951 SK, 1953 GC · 1978 TN 7

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , background · Phocaea

Observation arc

66.41 yr (24,255 d)

Aphelion

2.7287 AU

Perihelion

2.1712 AU

Semi major axis

2.4499 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.83 yr (1,401 d)

Mean anomaly

35.557 °

Mean motion

0° 15 25.2 / day

Inclination

25.350°

Longitude of ascending node

186.23°

Argument of perihelion

283.31°

Mean diameter

10.06 km (calculated) , 20.18 ± 1.0 km , 20.83 ± 5.49 km , 21.388 ± 0.121 km , 22.74 ± 0.53 km , 23.824 ± 8.215 km , 25.418 ± 0.186 km

Synodic rotation period

480 ± 6 h

via Wikipedia infobox