963 Iduberga

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

26 October 1921

Alternative designations

1921 KR; A911 WA;, 1929 BA; 1931 TE3;, 1950 HV

Observation arc

94.16 yr (34391 days)

Aphelion

2.5556 AU (382.31 Gm )

Perihelion

1.9393 AU (290.12 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.2475 AU (336.22 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.37 yr (1230.7 d )

Mean anomaly

17.4320 °

Mean motion

0° 17 33.072 / day

Inclination

7.9811°

Longitude of ascending node

62.490°

Argument of perihelion

5.2725°

Synodic rotation period

3.0341 h (0.12642 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

964 Subamara

Follows

962 Aslög

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

9.008

Orbital period

1230.836521528555

via Wikidata · CC0