3325 TARDIS

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

B. A. Skiff

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

3 May 1984

Named after

TARDIS , (fictional time and space machine)

Alternative designations

1984 JZ · 1958 VB 1 , 1969 TP 3 · 1975 VC 8 , 1975 WF 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Alauda

Observation arc

58.56 yr (21,390 days)

Aphelion

3.2299 AU

Perihelion

3.1397 AU

Semi major axis

3.1848 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.68 yr (2,076 days)

Mean anomaly

45.895 °

Mean motion

0° 10 24.24 / day

Inclination

22.221°

Longitude of ascending node

46.246°

Argument of perihelion

86.099°

Mean diameter

28.238 ± 0.469 km , 29.66 ± 1.2 km ( IRAS :9)

Geometric albedo

0.0553 ± 0.005 (IRAS:9) , 0.067 ± 0.010

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

TARDIS

Followed by

3326 Agafonikov

Follows

3324 Avsyuk

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

28.238

Orbital period

2075.469829472936

via Wikidata · CC0