3675 Kemstach

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

3675 Kemstach (1982 YP1)

Orbit class

Outer Main-belt Asteroid

Diameter

18.825 km

Albedo

0.181

Rotation period

14.100 h

Absolute magnitude

11.290 H

Earth MOID

2.090 AU

Semi-major axis

3.377 AU

Eccentricity

0.086

Inclination

10.859 °

via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database · Minor Planet Center

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

3676 Hahn

Follows

3674 Erbisbühl

Parent body

Sun

Diameter

18.825

Orbital period

2263.901838089124

via Wikidata · CC0