768 Struveana

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

G. N. Neujmin

Discovery site

Simeiz Observatory

Discovery date

4 October 1913

Alternative designations

1913 SZ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Meliboea

Observation arc

85.46 yr (31216 d)

Aphelion

3.8037 AU (569.03 Gm )

Perihelion

2.4799 AU (370.99 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1418 AU (470.01 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.57 yr (2034.1 d )

Mean anomaly

139.156 °

Mean motion

0° 10 37.128 / day

Inclination

16.265°

Longitude of ascending node

38.908°

Argument of perihelion

16.794°

Synodic rotation period

8.76 h (0.365 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Hermann Struve

Followed by

769 Tatjana

Follows

767 Bondia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

32.597

Orbital period

2029.262158629222

via Wikidata · CC0