Q136299

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

H. van Gent

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs. , (Leiden Southern Station)

Discovery date

13 September 1929

Named after

Dutch city of Leiden , ( Lugdunum Batavorum )

Alternative designations

1929 RC 1 · A908 BD

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

87.20 yr (31,848 days)

Aphelion

2.5966 AU

Perihelion

1.7751 AU

Semi major axis

2.1858 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.23 yr (1,180 days)

Mean anomaly

67.197 °

Mean motion

0° 18 18 / day

Inclination

5.3765°

Longitude of ascending node

58.230°

Argument of perihelion

306.74°

Dimensions

8.275 ± 0.019 km , 9.100 ± 0.037 km , 9.76 km (calculated) , 10.47 ± 0.70 km

Synodic rotation period

5 h , 5.477 ± 0.001 h , 5.478 ± 0.005 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

8.275

Orbital period

1180.571619407139

Image

Orbit of 1133 Lugduna.png

via Wikidata · CC0