2099 Öpik

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

8 November 1977

Named after

Ernst Öpik , (Estonian astronomer)

Alternative designations

1977 VB · 1977 UL 2

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser

Observation arc

60.26 yr (22,009 days)

Aphelion

3.1370 AU

Perihelion

1.4710 AU

Semi major axis

2.3040 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.50 yr (1,277 days)

Mean anomaly

148.76 °

Mean motion

0° 16 54.48 / day

Inclination

26.966°

Longitude of ascending node

218.84°

Argument of perihelion

159.18°

Earth moid

0.4926 AU

Dimensions

5.12 km (calculated) , 5.17 ± 1.35 km

via Wikipedia infobox