1005 Arago

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

S. Belyavskyj

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

5 September 1923

Named after

François Arago , (French mathematician)

Alternative designations

1923 OT

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

93.51 yr (34,156 days)

Aphelion

3.5381 AU

Perihelion

2.7937 AU

Semi major axis

3.1659 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.63 yr (2,058 days)

Mean anomaly

206.34 °

Mean motion

0° 10 30 / day

Inclination

19.060°

Longitude of ascending node

349.17°

Argument of perihelion

60.660°

Dimensions

48.57 ± 14.27 km , 50.28 ± 15.89 km , 52.74 ± 0.89 km , 56.36 ± 1.36 km , 57.69 km (derived) , 57.82 ± 4.9 km , 61.132 ± 0.345 km , 68.404 ± 0.660 km

Synodic rotation period

8.7819 ± 0.0001 h , 8.784 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

61.132

Orbital period

2055.720746398546

via Wikidata · CC0