Q939809

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

Felix Aguilar Obs.

Discovery site

El Leoncito Complex

Discovery date

3 January 1976

Named after

Juan Bussolini, (Argentine Jesuit physicist)

Alternative designations

1976 AG · 1962 WN 2 , 1977 KK · 1978 NT 3 , 1978 QH

Minor planet category

main-belt · Eunomia

Observation arc

67.13 yr (24,519 days)

Aphelion

2.9567 AU

Perihelion

2.2617 AU

Semi major axis

2.6092 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.21 yr (1,539 days)

Mean anomaly

9.8678 °

Mean motion

0° 14 2.04 / day

Inclination

12.964°

Longitude of ascending node

212.60°

Argument of perihelion

210.46°

Mean diameter

11.725 ± 0.081 km , 12.707 ± 0.170 km , 12.09 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

24 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

11.725

Orbital period

1539.3919130989

Image

002490-asteroid shape model (2490) Bussolini.png

via Wikidata · CC0