509 Iolanda

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

28 April 1903

Pronunciation

Italian: [ joˈlanda ]

Alternative designations

1903 LR

Observation arc

112.97 yr (41263 d)

Aphelion

3.3534 AU (501.66 Gm )

Perihelion

2.7718 AU (414.66 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0626 AU (458.16 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.36 yr (1957.6 d )

Mean anomaly

249.896 °

Mean motion

0° 11 2.004 / day

Inclination

15.410°

Longitude of ascending node

217.547°

Argument of perihelion

157.882°

Mean radius

26.495 ± 1.85 km

Synodic rotation period

12.306 h (0.5128 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2747 ± 0.043

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

51.892

Orbital period

1955.941225430798

Image

509Iolanda (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0