1264 Letaba

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. Jackson

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

21 April 1933

Named after

Letaba River , (South African river )

Alternative designations

1933 HG · 1930 WC, 1954 YB · 1962 HJ, 1964 VB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

84.54 yr (30,877 days)

Aphelion

3.3108 AU

Perihelion

2.4225 AU

Semi major axis

2.8667 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.85 yr (1,773 days)

Mean anomaly

112.30 °

Mean motion

0° 12 11.16 / day

Inclination

24.953°

Longitude of ascending node

235.05°

Argument of perihelion

31.529°

Dimensions

66.040 ± 0.405 km , 67.76 ± 17.00 km , 67.79 ± 17.67 km , 70.180 ± 23.32 km , 70.34 ± 0.77 km , 73.629 ± 0.870 km , 74.35 km (derived) , 74.74 ± 2.1 km

Synodic rotation period

12 h , 16 h , 32.16 ± 0.03 h , 32.74 ± 0.02 h (best) , 33.27 ± 0.01 h , 63.74 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

66.04

Orbital period

1770.65989808629

via Wikidata · CC0