599 Luisa

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

Joel Hastings Metcalf

Discovery site

Taunton, Massachusetts

Discovery date

25 April 1906

Alternative designations

1906 UJ

Observation arc

109.96 yr (40163 d)

Aphelion

3.5859 AU (536.44 Gm )

Perihelion

1.9676 AU (294.35 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.7768 AU (415.40 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.63 yr (1690.1 d )

Mean anomaly

232.49 °

Mean motion

0° 12 46.836 / day

Inclination

16.692°

Longitude of ascending node

44.204°

Argument of perihelion

293.980°

Mean radius

32.435 ± 0.95 km

Synodic rotation period

9.566 h (0.3986 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1377 ± 0.008

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q114661

Follows

Q155762

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

70.249

Orbital period

1684.854207368553

via Wikidata · CC0