803 Picka

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. Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna Obs.

Discovery date

21 March 1915

Named after

Friedrich Pick , (Czech medical doctor)

Alternative designations

A915 FL · 1952 YH, 1984 EC 2 · A899 NE, A915 FD · 1915 WS

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) background

Observation arc

104.50 yr (38,169 d)

Aphelion

3.4133 AU

Perihelion

2.9929 AU

Semi major axis

3.2031 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.73 yr (2,094 d)

Mean anomaly

338.93 °

Mean motion

0° 10 18.84 / day

Inclination

8.6665°

Longitude of ascending node

250.95°

Argument of perihelion

58.556°

Mean diameter

46.50 ± 2.2 km 57.41 ± 0.95 km 69.165 ± 8.353 km

Synodic rotation period

5.0742 ± 0.0006 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

46.5

Orbital period

2090.573202928585

Image

803Picka (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0