1727 Mette

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

A. D. Andrews

Discovery site

Boyden Obs.

Discovery date

25 January 1965

Named after

Mette Andrews, (wife of discoverer)

Alternative designations

1965 BA · 1955 DC

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser · Hungaria

Observation arc

61.54 yr (22,477 days)

Aphelion

2.0430 AU

Perihelion

1.6652 AU

Semi major axis

1.8541 AU

Orbital period sidereal

2.52 yr (922 days)

Mean anomaly

322.85 °

Inclination

22.894°

Longitude of ascending node

133.04°

Argument of perihelion

312.94°

Known satellites

1 (see 2nd infobox)

Earth moid

0.7183 AU

Dimensions

5.44 ± 1.09 km , 8.97 km (calculated)

via Wikipedia infobox