2064 Thomsen

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

L. Oterma

Discovery site

Turku Obs.

Discovery date

8 September 1942

Named after

Ivan Leslie Thomsen, (New Zealand astronomer)

Alternative designations

1942 RQ · 1958 RO, 1974 OK · 1977 FE 3 , 1977 KA · A913 QB

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser

Observation arc

74.50 yr (27,211 days)

Aphelion

2.8967 AU

Perihelion

1.4600 AU

Semi major axis

2.1783 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.22 yr (1,174 days)

Mean anomaly

142.30 °

Mean motion

0° 18 23.76 / day

Inclination

5.6946°

Longitude of ascending node

302.16°

Argument of perihelion

2.7479°

Earth moid

0.4446 AU

Mean diameter

8.09 ± 0.12 km , 13.59 km (derived) , 13.61 ± 1.6 km ( IRAS :2)

via Wikipedia infobox