800 Kressmannia

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 Observatory

Discovery date

20 March 1915

Pronunciation

/ k r ɛ s ˈ m æ n i ə /

Alternative designations

1915 WP; A905 CF;, A912 GC

Observation arc

104.01 yr (37991 d)

Aphelion

2.6341 AU (394.06 Gm )

Perihelion

1.7512 AU (261.98 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.1926 AU (328.01 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.25 yr (1185.9 d )

Mean anomaly

316.007 °

Mean motion

0° 18 12.852 / day

Inclination

4.2623°

Longitude of ascending node

325.184°

Argument of perihelion

347.603°

Mean diameter

15 km

Synodic rotation period

4.464 h (0.1860 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q157172

Follows

Q157147

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

15.429

Orbital period

1185.487956654727

Image

800Kressmannia (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0