1652 Hergé

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. Arend

Discovery site

Uccle Obs.

Discovery date

9 August 1953

Named after

Georges Remi , ( Hergé ) cartoonist

Alternative designations

1953 PA · 1933 UE 1 , 1939 HG

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

83.41 yr (30,464 days)

Aphelion

2.5883 AU

Perihelion

1.9139 AU

Semi major axis

2.2511 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.38 yr (1,234 days)

Mean anomaly

34.960 °

Inclination

3.1989°

Longitude of ascending node

251.72°

Argument of perihelion

13.107°

Dimensions

8.689 ± 0.081 km , 8.954 ± 0.083 km , 9.41 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

16.36 ± 0.02 h

Geometric albedo

0.1160 ± 0.0215 , 0.137 ± 0.028 , 0.24 (assumed) , 0.308 ± 0.060

via Wikipedia infobox