710 Gertrud

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

J. Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna Obs.

Discovery date

28 February 1911

Alternative designations

1911 LM

Observation arc

105.01 yr (38355 d)

Aphelion

3.5537 AU (531.63 Gm )

Perihelion

2.7105 AU (405.49 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1321 AU (468.56 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.54 yr (2024.7 d )

Mean anomaly

303.093 °

Mean motion

0° 10 40.116 / day

Inclination

1.7508°

Longitude of ascending node

140.193°

Argument of perihelion

99.5550°

Mean radius

13.405 ± 0.75 km

Synodic rotation period

8.288 h (0.3453 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0893 ± 0.011

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

711 Marmulla

Follows

709 Fringilla

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

29.208

Orbital period

2023.966244294764

via Wikidata · CC0