2895 Memnon

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

N. G. Thomas

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

10 January 1981

Pronunciation

/ ˈ m ɛ m n ɒ n /

Named after

Memnon , (Greek mythology)

Alternative designations

1981 AE 1 · 1981 CL

Minor planet category

Jupiter trojan , Trojan · background

Adjectives

Memnonian

Observation arc

40.46 yr (14,779 d)

Aphelion

5.4989 AU

Perihelion

4.9823 AU

Semi major axis

5.2406 AU

Orbital period sidereal

12.00 yr (4,382 d)

Mean anomaly

120.27 °

Mean motion

0° 4 55.92 / day

Inclination

27.207°

Longitude of ascending node

133.97°

Argument of perihelion

277.24°

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

56.706

Orbital period

4380.633318568069

via Wikidata · CC0