2197 Shanghai

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

Purple Mountain Obs.

Discovery site

Purple Mountain Obs.

Discovery date

30 December 1965

Named after

Shanghai (Chinese city)

Alternative designations

1965 YN · 1942 VN, 1955 DA · 1964 UN, 1967 JT · 1975 SD

Minor planet category

main-belt · Themis

Observation arc

62.10 yr (22,682 days)

Aphelion

3.5508 AU

Perihelion

2.7595 AU

Semi major axis

3.1551 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.60 yr (2,047 days)

Mean anomaly

60.923 °

Mean motion

0° 10 33.24 / day

Inclination

2.4980°

Longitude of ascending node

56.369°

Argument of perihelion

70.991°

Dimensions

20.198 ± 0.136 km , 20.20 ± 0.14 km , 22.23 km (derived) , 23.88 ± 0.70 km

Synodic rotation period

5.9384 ± 0.0023 h , 5.99 ± 0.05 h

via Wikipedia infobox