2127 Tanya

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

L. Chernykh

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

29 May 1971

Named after

Tanya Savicheva , (Russian child diarist)

Alternative designations

1971 KB 1 · 1953 GH 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

64.14 yr (23,428 days)

Aphelion

3.3125 AU

Perihelion

3.1076 AU

Semi major axis

3.2100 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.75 yr (2,101 days)

Mean anomaly

343.14 °

Mean motion

0° 10 17.04 / day

Inclination

13.094°

Longitude of ascending node

106.39°

Argument of perihelion

185.54°

Dimensions

30.18 km (calculated) , 37.736 ± 0.197 km , 40.111 ± 0.397 km , 41.19 ± 1.05 km , 41.43 ± 9.46 km , 43.89 ± 16.43 km

Synodic rotation period

7.864 ± 0.0211 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Tanya Savicheva

Followed by

Q340014

Follows

2126 Gerasimovich

Parent body

Sun

Diameter

37.736

Orbital period

2102.260887867298

via Wikidata · CC0