Q143672

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

A. Kopff

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

17 October 1906

Named after

George Van Biesbroeck , (astronomer)

Alternative designations

A906 UB · 1954 SZ, 1958 VP · 1969 TM 2

Minor planet category

main-belt · Vestian

Observation arc

110.55 yr (40,377 days)

Aphelion

2.6541 AU

Perihelion

2.1355 AU

Semi major axis

2.3948 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.71 yr (1,354 days)

Mean anomaly

330.79 °

Mean motion

0° 15 57.24 / day

Inclination

6.9497°

Longitude of ascending node

44.630°

Argument of perihelion

342.83°

Dimensions

8.500 ± 0.126 , 9 km (estimate at 0.20 )

Geometric albedo

0.203 ± 0.023

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

8.5

Orbital period

1354.240137557799

Image

001781-asteroid shape model (1781) Van Biesbroeck.png

via Wikidata · CC0