4957 Brucemurray

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

E. F. Helin

Discovery site

Palomar Obs.

Discovery date

15 December 1990

Named after

Bruce C. Murray , (American planetary scientist)

Alternative designations

1990 XJ

Minor planet category

NEO · Amor , Mars-crosser

Observation arc

41.35 yr (15,102 days)

Aphelion

1.9082 AU

Perihelion

1.2228 AU

Semi major axis

1.5655 AU

Orbital period sidereal

1.96 yr (715 days)

Mean anomaly

282.15 °

Mean motion

0° 30 11.52 / day

Inclination

35.011°

Longitude of ascending node

254.90°

Argument of perihelion

97.487°

Earth moid

0.4258 AU · 165.9 LD

Dimensions

3.01 km , 3.06 km , 3.11 km (calculated) , 3.499 ± 0.095 km

via Wikipedia infobox