1573 Väisälä

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

S. Arend

Discovery site

Uccle Obs.

Discovery date

27 October 1949

Named after

Yrjö Väisälä (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1949 UA

Minor planet category

main-belt · Phocaea

Observation arc

67.51 yr (24,659 days)

Aphelion

2.9192 AU

Perihelion

1.8243 AU

Semi major axis

2.3717 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.65 yr (1,334 days)

Mean anomaly

225.00 °

Mean motion

0° 16 11.28 / day

Inclination

24.553°

Longitude of ascending node

202.38°

Argument of perihelion

173.91°

Dimensions

8.43 ± 1.90 km , 9.083 ± 0.055 km , 9.146 ± 0.066 km , 9.77 km ( IRAS :2)

Synodic rotation period

252 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

Zamenhof-Esperanto object

Named after

Yrjö Väisälä

Followed by

1574 Meyer

Follows

1572 Posnania

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

9.083

Orbital period

1333.429291750508

via Wikidata · CC0