775 Lumière

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. Lagrula

Discovery site

Nice Observatory

Discovery date

6 January 1914

Alternative designations

1914 TX

Observation arc

86.07 yr (31436 d)

Aphelion

3.2277 AU (482.86 Gm )

Perihelion

2.7971 AU (418.44 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0124 AU (450.65 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.23 yr (1909.7 d )

Mean anomaly

235.239 °

Mean motion

0° 11 18.636 / day

Inclination

9.2891°

Longitude of ascending node

297.761°

Argument of perihelion

167.229°

Mean radius

16.795 ± 0.8 km

Synodic rotation period

6.103 h (0.2543 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1083 ± 0.011

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Auguste and Louis Lumière

Followed by

776 Berbericia

Follows

Q157030

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

31.958

Orbital period

1911.330828788197

via Wikidata · CC0