1988 Delores

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

Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )

Discovery site

Goethe Link Obs.

Discovery date

28 September 1952

Named after

Delores Owings, ( Indiana University )

Alternative designations

1952 SV · 1951 GF 1 , 1952 UU · 1971 UE, 1973 GH

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

64.59 yr (23,591 days)

Aphelion

2.3749 AU

Perihelion

1.9336 AU

Semi major axis

2.1543 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.16 yr (1,155 days)

Mean anomaly

226.97 °

Mean motion

0° 18 42.12 / day

Inclination

4.2519°

Longitude of ascending node

106.38°

Argument of perihelion

235.01°

Dimensions

4.60 km (calculated) , 5.761 ± 0.035 km , 5.818 ± 0.097 km

Synodic rotation period

88.1521 ± 0.3555 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

1989 Tatry

Follows

1987 Kaplan

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

5.761

Orbital period

1154.700833646243

via Wikidata · CC0