小行星2001

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

P. Wild

Discovery site

Zimmerwald Obs.

Discovery date

5 March 1973

Named after

Albert Einstein (physicist)

Alternative designations

1973 EB

Minor planet category

main-belt · Hungaria

Observation arc

43.43 yr (15,864 days)

Aphelion

2.1242 AU

Perihelion

1.7430 AU

Semi major axis

1.9336 AU

Orbital period sidereal

2.69 yr (982 days)

Mean anomaly

150.59 °

Mean motion

0° 21 59.76 / day

Inclination

22.683°

Longitude of ascending node

357.08°

Argument of perihelion

217.74°

Mean diameter

3.975 ± 0.154 km , 5.66 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

5.4846 ± 0.0001 h , 5.485 ± 0.002 h , 5.485 03 ± 0.000 05 h (S) , 5.487 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox