699 Hela

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

J. Helffrich

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

5 June 1910

Pronunciation

/ ˈ h iː l ə /

Alternative designations

1902 WE · 1910 LC · 1923 TB · 1948 KD · 1957 WX 1

Minor planet category

Mars crosser

Observation arc

113.38 yr (41,411 d)

Aphelion

3.6831 AU (550.98 Gm )

Perihelion

1.5414 AU (230.59 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6123 AU (390.79 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.22 yr (1,542.1 d)

Mean anomaly

3.93957 °

Mean motion

0° 14 0.384 / day

Inclination

15.297°

Longitude of ascending node

242.548°

Argument of perihelion

91.479°

Earth moid

0.62609 AU (93.662 Gm)

Mars moid

0.4063 AU (60.78 Gm)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Orbital period

1544.405486890374

Image

699Hela (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0