505 Cava

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

R. H. Frost

Discovery site

Arequipa

Discovery date

21 August 1902

Named after

Mama Qawa , third queen of the Kingdom of Cuzco

Alternative designations

1902 LL

Observation arc

112.24 yr (40994 d)

Aphelion

3.3432 AU (500.14 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0229 AU (302.62 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6831 AU (401.39 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.40 yr (1605.3 d )

Mean anomaly

219.54 °

Mean motion

0° 13 27.336 / day

Inclination

9.8406°

Longitude of ascending node

90.876°

Argument of perihelion

337.156°

Dimensions

101.51 ± 1.83 km , 115 km

Mass

(3.99 ± 3.84) × 10 kg

Synodic rotation period

8.1789 h (0.34079 d )

via Wikipedia infobox