377 Campania

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

Auguste Charlois

Discovery site

Nice Observatory

Discovery date

20 September 1893

Pronunciation

/ k æ m ˈ p eɪ n i ə /

Named after

Campania

Alternative designations

A893 SD · 1935 GP · 1946 UP

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

132.07 yr (48239 d)

Aphelion

2.8928 AU (432.76 Gm )

Perihelion

2.4880 AU (372.20 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6904 AU (402.48 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.4129 yr (1611.8 d )

Mean anomaly

311.766°

Mean motion

0° 13 23.88 / day

Inclination

6.6776°

Longitude of ascending node

209.914°

Argument of perihelion

196.952°

Jupiter moid

2.4293 AU (363.42 Gm)

via Wikipedia infobox