1431 Luanda

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

Discovery date

29 July 1937

Named after

Luanda , (Capital of Angola)

Alternative designations

1937 OB · 1949 KZ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia

Observation arc

80.22 yr (29,300 days)

Aphelion

3.0989 AU

Perihelion

2.1408 AU

Semi major axis

2.6199 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.24 yr (1,549 days)

Mean anomaly

293.57 °

Mean motion

0° 13 56.64 / day

Inclination

13.987°

Longitude of ascending node

117.73°

Argument of perihelion

224.19°

Dimensions

13.608 ± 1.966 km , 13.88 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

4.141 ± 0.004 h , 5.360 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox