Q140708

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

M. B. Protitch

Discovery site

Belgrade Obs.

Discovery date

29 November 1937

Named after

Josip Broz Tito (statesman)

Alternative designations

1937 WD · 1941 XA, 1941 YE · 1945 WB, 1949 UR · 1983 CG 3

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

79.34 yr (28,979 days)

Aphelion

3.3418 AU

Perihelion

1.7471 AU

Semi major axis

2.5444 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.06 yr (1,482 days)

Mean anomaly

256.39 °

Mean motion

0° 14 34.08 / day

Inclination

8.8802°

Longitude of ascending node

64.500°

Argument of perihelion

311.14°

Dimensions

9.47 ± 2.13 km , 11.391 ± 0.108 km , 11.45 ± 0.28 km , 11.98 ± 0.15 km , 12.39 km (calculated) , 12.431 ± 0.062 km , 12.88 ± 2.28 km , 13.652 ± 2.335 km

Synodic rotation period

30 ± 1 h , 54.2 ± 0.3 h , 54.53 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

11.391

Orbital period

1482.16759889759

Image

Орбита астероида 1550.png

via Wikidata · CC0