30935 Davasobel

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

30935 Davasobel (1994 AK1)

Orbit class

Inner Main-belt Asteroid

Diameter

2.408 km

Albedo

0.581

Rotation period

3.977 h

Absolute magnitude

14.590 H

Earth MOID

0.745 AU

Semi-major axis

1.904 AU

Eccentricity

0.118

Inclination

27.811 °

via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database · Minor Planet Center

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Dava Sobel

Followed by

30936 Basra

Follows

30934 Bakerhansen

Parent body

Sun

Diameter

2.408

Orbital period

959.1984346233696

via Wikidata · CC0