502 Sigune

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

19 January 1903

Pronunciation

German: [ ˈziːɡuːnə ]

Alternative designations

1903 LC

Observation arc

112.94 yr (41251 d)

Aphelion

2.8101 AU (420.38 Gm )

Perihelion

1.9546 AU (292.40 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.3824 AU (356.40 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.68 yr (1343.1 d )

Mean anomaly

271.391 °

Mean motion

0° 16 4.908 / day

Inclination

25.030°

Longitude of ascending node

133.001°

Argument of perihelion

19.203°

Earth moid

0.975533 AU (145.9377 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.24872 AU (336.404 Gm)

Mean radius

7.99 ± 1 km

via Wikipedia infobox