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
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 8.865
- Orbital period
- 1920.248714861185
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1998 XA32
- time of discovery or invention
- 1971-08-30
Article · Русский
(12657) Бонч-Бруевич (лат. Bonch-Bruevich) — типичный астероид главного пояса, который был открыт 30 августа 1971 года советским астрономом Тамарой Смирновой в Крымской астрофизической обсерватории и в 2001 году назван в честь советского и российского физика Алексея Бонч-Бруевича. 12657 Bonch-Bruevich Discovered 1971 Aug. 30 by T. M. Smirnova at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. Aleksej Mikhajlovich Bonch-Bruevich (b. 1916), a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is renowned for his research in the field of laser radiation interaction with absorbing and transparent environments. He is founder of a new scientific branch on power optics. REF: 20010705/MPCPages.arc; MPC 43045 — Discovery Circumstances
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