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
- Y. Väisälä
- Discovery site
- Turku Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 September 1939
- Named after
- Joensuu (Finnish town)
- Alternative designations
- 1939 SB · 1931 EL, 1933 QO · 1936 DG, 1958 DH 1
~2 min read
Article
1524 Joensuu (provisional designation 1939 SB) is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 42 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 18 September 1939, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland, and named for the town of Joensuu.
Classification and orbit