3552 Don Quixote

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

P. Wild

Discovery site

Zimmerwald Obs.

Discovery date

26 September 1983

Named after

Don Quixote fictional character

Alternative designations

1983 SA

Minor planet category

NEO · Amor , Mars-crosser , Jupiter-crosser , Centaur

Observation arc

33.71 yr (12,312 days)

Aphelion

7.2783 AU

Perihelion

1.2399 AU

Semi major axis

4.2591 AU

Orbital period sidereal

8.79 yr (3,211 days)

Mean anomaly

332.47 °

Mean motion

0° 6 43.56 / day

Inclination

31.092°

Longitude of ascending node

350.03°

Argument of perihelion

316.42°

Earth moid

0.3338 AU

Jupiter moid

0.4397 AU

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

near-Earth object

Named after

Alonso Quijano

Followed by

3553 Mera

Follows

3551 Verenia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

19.0

Orbital period

3222.429798614661

Image

3552Don2-LB4-mag15.jpg

via Wikidata · CC0