1996 Adams

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

Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )

Discovery site

Goethe Link Obs.

Discovery date

16 October 1961

Named after

John Couch Adams , (mathematician)

Alternative designations

1961 UA · 1932 RM, 1961 TB 2 · 1969 TW 2 , 1971 BY 1 · 1973 SJ 3

Minor planet category

main-belt , Eunomia · Maria

Observation arc

55.66 yr (20,331 days)

Aphelion

2.9123 AU

Perihelion

2.2058 AU

Semi major axis

2.5591 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.09 yr (1,495 days)

Mean anomaly

259.97 °

Mean motion

0° 14 26.88 / day

Inclination

15.132°

Longitude of ascending node

1.0923°

Argument of perihelion

355.05°

Dimensions

10.12 ± 0.41 km , 12.05 ± 0.44 km , 12.417 ± 0.158 , 13.529 ± 0.069 km , 13.88 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

3.27 ± 0.02 h , 3.311 ± 0.001 h , 3.311 38 ± 0.000 06 h , 3.316 ± 0.079 h h, 3.560 h

via Wikipedia infobox