3850 Peltier

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

E. Bowell

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

7 October 1986

Named after

Leslie Peltier , (American amateur astronomer)

Alternative designations

1986 TK 2 · 1949 PC, 1969 OC 1 · 1979 OX 13 , 1982 OW

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

47.47 yr (17,339 days)

Aphelion

2.5967 AU

Perihelion

1.8718 AU

Semi major axis

2.2342 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.34 yr (1,220 days)

Mean anomaly

126.84 °

Mean motion

0° 17 42.36 / day

Inclination

5.2687°

Longitude of ascending node

124.13°

Argument of perihelion

207.30°

Dimensions

4.00 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

2.4287 ± 0.0002 h , 2.4289 ± 0.0001 h

via Wikipedia infobox