Q144789

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

L. Chernykh

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

8 October 1969

Named after

Sergey Korolyov , (Soviet rocket engineer)

Alternative designations

1969 TU 1 · 1961 JD, 1964 DD

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

55.74 yr (20,358 days)

Aphelion

2.4363 AU

Perihelion

2.0583 AU

Semi major axis

2.2473 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.37 yr (1,231 days)

Mean anomaly

286.81 °

Mean motion

0° 17 33.36 / day

Inclination

3.0793°

Longitude of ascending node

191.03°

Argument of perihelion

349.40°

Dimensions

6.789 ± 0.253 km , 7.47 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

4.65 ± 0.01 h , 4.656 199 ± 0.000 001 h , 4.6568 ± 0.0001 h , 4.66 ± 0.01 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

6.789

Orbital period

1230.957271198501

Image

001855-asteroid shape model (1855) Korolev.png

via Wikidata · CC0