2011 Veteraniya

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

T. Smirnova

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

30 August 1970

Named after

veterans , (Soviet veterans of WWII)

Alternative designations

1970 QB 1 · 1955 RE, 1955 SN 1 · 1959 UA

Minor planet category

main-belt · Vestian

Observation arc

67.05 yr (24,490 days)

Aphelion

2.7415 AU

Perihelion

2.0326 AU

Semi major axis

2.3870 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.69 yr (1,347 days)

Mean anomaly

282.05 °

Mean motion

0° 16 1.92 / day

Inclination

6.1789°

Longitude of ascending node

338.52°

Argument of perihelion

3.7456°

Dimensions

5.193 ± 0.646 km , 7.46 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

8.209 ± 0.005 h

via Wikipedia infobox