Q137674

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

E. Delporte

Discovery site

Uccle Obs.

Discovery date

24 October 1933

Named after

Antwerp (Belgian city)

Alternative designations

1933 UB 1 · 1930 AF, 1932 LC · 1964 VA 2 , 1964 XF · A917 DB

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) background

Observation arc

99.63 yr (36,391 days)

Aphelion

3.3156 AU

Perihelion

2.0572 AU

Semi major axis

2.6864 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.40 yr (1,608 days)

Mean anomaly

16.166 °

Mean motion

0° 13 25.68 / day

Inclination

8.7271°

Longitude of ascending node

81.133°

Argument of perihelion

313.22°

Mean diameter

27.82 ± 7.33 km , 34.71 ± 3.0 km , 34.80 ± 0.66 km , 37.199 ± 0.134 km , 40.717 ± 0.350 km

Synodic rotation period

6.63 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

37.199

Orbital period

1609.958716645066

Image

001294-asteroid shape model (1294) Antwerpia.png

via Wikidata · CC0