3554 Amun

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

C. Shoemaker , E. M. Shoemaker

Discovery date

4 March 1986

Named after

Amun

Alternative designations

1986 EB

Minor planet category

Aten , Venus-crosser asteroid

Observation arc

10923 days (29.91 yr)

Aphelion

1.24677 AU (186.514 Gm )

Perihelion

0.700578 AU (104.8050 Gm)

Semi major axis

0.973675 AU (145.6597 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

0.961 yr (350.9 d)

Mean anomaly

184.781°

Mean motion

1.02585°/day

Inclination

23.3626°

Longitude of ascending node

358.627°

Argument of perihelion

359.392°

Earth moid

0.250204 AU (37.4300 Gm)

Mean diameter

3.341 km

Mass

~ 1.6 × 10 kg

via Wikipedia infobox