995 Sternberga

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

S. Beljavskij

Discovery site

Simeis

Discovery date

8 June 1923

Alternative designations

1923 NP

Observation arc

112.34 yr (41031 days)

Aphelion

3.0547 AU (456.98 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1748 AU (325.35 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6148 AU (391.17 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.23 yr (1544.4 d )

Mean anomaly

306.02 °

Mean motion

0° 13 59.196 / day

Inclination

13.054°

Longitude of ascending node

221.747°

Argument of perihelion

122.464°

Mean radius

15.81 ± 0.3 km

Synodic rotation period

14.612 h (0.6088 d )

Sidereal rotation period

15.26 ± 0.01 h

Geometric albedo

0.1341 ± 0.005

via Wikipedia infobox