Q136265

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

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

2 September 1929

Named after

Skuld ( Norse mythology )

Alternative designations

1929 RC · 1928 FJ, 1949 UD · 1962 LA, A906 VC

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

110.38 yr (40,316 days)

Aphelion

2.6701 AU

Perihelion

1.7864 AU

Semi major axis

2.2282 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.33 yr (1,215 days)

Mean anomaly

173.35 °

Mean motion

0° 17 46.68 / day

Inclination

2.1677°

Longitude of ascending node

216.13°

Argument of perihelion

113.81°

Dimensions

9.63 ± 0.44 km , 9.99 km (derived) , 10.125 ± 0.092 km , 10.24 ± 0.64 km , 11.009 ± 0.091 km

Synodic rotation period

4.73 ± 0.02 h , 4.807 ± 0.002 h , 4.8079 ± 0.0005 h , 4.810 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

10.125

Orbital period

1215.306577402783

Image

001130-asteroid shape model (1130) Skuld.png

via Wikidata · CC0