2074 Shoemaker

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

E. F. Helin

Discovery site

Palomar Obs.

Discovery date

17 October 1974

Named after

Eugene Shoemaker , (American astronomer)

Alternative designations

1974 UA

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser · Hungaria

Observation arc

63.23 yr (23,096 days)

Aphelion

1.9472 AU

Perihelion

1.6521 AU

Semi major axis

1.7996 AU

Orbital period sidereal

2.41 yr (882 days)

Mean anomaly

243.44 °

Mean motion

0° 24 29.88 / day

Inclination

30.080°

Longitude of ascending node

207.29°

Argument of perihelion

205.58°

Earth moid

0.6680 AU · 260.2 LD

Dimensions

3.18 ± 0.51 km , 3.217 ± 0.558 km , 4.93 km (calculated)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

3.189

Orbital period

881.9527250121524

via Wikidata · CC0