Q11549

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

B. Jekhovsky

Discovery site

Algiers Obs.

Discovery date

17 January 1924

Named after

D. Tombeck , (Faculty of Sciences of Paris)

Alternative designations

1924 PQ · 1953 TP 3 , 1962 VK · A905 UG, A907 GW · A924 BL

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Mitidika · Eunomia

Observation arc

111.69 yr (40,795 days)

Aphelion

3.2444 AU

Perihelion

2.1230 AU

Semi major axis

2.6837 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.40 yr (1,606 days)

Mean anomaly

95.024 °

Mean motion

0° 13 27.12 / day

Inclination

11.901°

Longitude of ascending node

27.248°

Argument of perihelion

99.992°

Dimensions

31.93 ± 1.5 km , 34.057 ± 0.434 km , 34.28 ± 0.62 km , 34.613 ± 0.290 km , 34.62 ± 10.20 km , 35.18 ± 2.24 , 36.62 ± 0.58 km

Mass

(0.17 ± 1.43) × 10 kg

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

34.613

Orbital period

1605.93810257011

Image

001013-asteroid shape model (1013) Tombecka.png

via Wikidata · CC0