Q140474

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

Y. Väisälä

Discovery site

Turku Obs.

Discovery date

26 January 1938

Named after

Liisi Oterma , (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1938 BC · 1950 PV, 1959 RD 1 · A912 VO

Minor planet category

main-belt · Hilda

Observation arc

66.76 yr (24,385 days)

Aphelion

4.7933 AU

Perihelion

3.1916 AU

Semi major axis

3.9924 AU

Orbital period sidereal

7.98 yr (2,914 days)

Mean anomaly

50.497 °

Mean motion

0° 7 24.96 / day

Inclination

9.0582°

Longitude of ascending node

100.59°

Argument of perihelion

295.08°

Jupiter moid

0.8116 AU

Dimensions

54.40 km (calculated) , 56.327 ± 0.285 , 60.16 ± 1.11 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

56.319

Orbital period

2920.208573100573

Image

Orbit of 1529 Oterma.gif

via Wikidata · CC0