1512 Oulu

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

18 March 1939

Named after

Oulu (Finnish town)

Alternative designations

1939 FE · 1938 CU, 1957 TA · 1958 XS

Minor planet category

main-belt · Hilda

Observation arc

78.06 yr (28,510 days)

Aphelion

4.5541 AU

Perihelion

3.3892 AU

Semi major axis

3.9717 AU

Orbital period sidereal

7.92 yr (2,891 days)

Mean anomaly

333.83 °

Mean motion

0° 7 28.2 / day

Inclination

6.4785°

Longitude of ascending node

10.168°

Argument of perihelion

238.20°

Jupiter moid

0.6287 AU

Dimensions

65.0 km , 65.000 ± 4.137 km , 79.222 ± 0.241 km , 82.72 ± 2.5 km ( IRAS :38) , 91.05 ± 2.20 km

via Wikipedia infobox