435 Ella

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

M. F. Wolf , A. Schwassmann

Discovery date

11 September 1898

Alternative designations

1898 DS

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

117.60 yr (42955 d)

Aphelion

2.8297 AU (423.32 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0688 AU (309.49 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.4492 AU (366.40 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.83 yr (1400.1 d )

Mean anomaly

265.450 °

Mean motion

0° 15 25.668 / day

Inclination

1.8168°

Longitude of ascending node

23.192°

Argument of perihelion

333.682°

Dimensions

41.49 ± 1.5 km

Synodic rotation period

4.623 h (0.1926 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0831 ± 0.006

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

34.792

Orbital period

1400.875937062841

Image

435Ella (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0