3333 Schaber

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

C. Shoemaker

Discovery site

Palomar Obs.

Discovery date

9 October 1980

Named after

Gerald Gene Schaber , (American geologist)

Alternative designations

1980 TG 5 · 1964 WR, 1975 XM 2

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , background

Observation arc

52.42 yr (19,147 d)

Aphelion

3.8276 AU

Perihelion

2.4390 AU

Semi major axis

3.1333 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.55 yr (2,026 d)

Mean anomaly

333.25 °

Mean motion

0° 10 39.72 / day

Inclination

11.967°

Longitude of ascending node

231.17°

Argument of perihelion

66.155°

Mean diameter

25.44 km (calculated) , 26.538 ± 0.262 km , 27.67 ± 0.52 km

Synodic rotation period

10.971 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox