2513 Baetslé

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

19 September 1950

Named after

Paul-Louis Baetslé

Alternative designations

1950 SH · 1936 PC, 1943 RA · 1943 RC, 1950 TK · 1950 TW 2 , 1964 VO 2 · 1971 UH 3 , 1974 QV · 1981 QO

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora

Observation arc

73.57 yr (26,870 days)

Aphelion

2.7004 AU

Perihelion

1.8713 AU

Semi major axis

2.2859 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.46 yr (1,262 days)

Mean anomaly

138.26 °

Inclination

3.1618°

Longitude of ascending node

257.61°

Argument of perihelion

97.789°

Dimensions

5.013 ± 0.080 , 5.054 ± 0.086 km , 16.67 ± 1.8 km , 16.69 km (derived)

Synodic rotation period

6.0792 ± 0.0004 h

Geometric albedo

0.0278 ± 0.007 , 0.0333 (derived) , 0.221 ± 0.021 , 0.3032 ± 0.0453

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

5.054

Orbital period

1262.780336867433

via Wikidata · CC0