1508 Kemi

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. Alikoski

Discovery site

Turku Obs.

Discovery date

21 October 1938

Named after

Kemi and Kemi River , (Finnish town and river )

Alternative designations

1938 UP · 1935 FA, 1938 UO

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser

Observation arc

81.79 yr (29,873 days)

Aphelion

3.9264 AU

Perihelion

1.6167 AU

Semi major axis

2.7716 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.61 yr (1,685 days)

Mean anomaly

354.04 °

Mean motion

0° 12 48.96 / day

Inclination

28.723°

Longitude of ascending node

14.298°

Argument of perihelion

92.892°

Mars moid

0.3966 AU

Dimensions

15.78 ± 1.58 km , 15.9 ± 1.6 km , 16 ± 2 km , 17.98 ± 1.34 km , 21.86 km (calculated)

via Wikipedia infobox