2672 Písek

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

J. Kveton

Discovery site

Kleť Obs.

Discovery date

31 May 1979

Named after

Písek (Czech town)

Alternative designations

1979 KC · 1937 NP, 1953 EJ 1 · 1953 ET 1 , 1978 EF 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia

Observation arc

64.64 yr (23,609 d)

Aphelion

3.0006 AU

Perihelion

2.2257 AU

Semi major axis

2.6132 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.22 yr (1,543 d)

Mean anomaly

44.692 °

Mean motion

0° 13 59.88 / day

Inclination

14.139°

Longitude of ascending node

129.02°

Argument of perihelion

152.35°

Mean diameter

20.18 ± 0.8 km , 22.624 ± 0.786 km , 26.45 ± 0.77 km , 29.594 ± 7.961 km

Synodic rotation period

831 ± 3 h

via Wikipedia infobox