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
- 5.968
- Orbital period
- 1567.89029873026
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1993 FN25
- time of discovery or invention
- 1990-09-24
Article · Русский
(12704) Туполев (лат. Tupolev) — типичный астероид главного пояса, который был открыт 24 сентября 1990 года советскими астрономами Людмилой Журавлёвой и в Крымской астрофизической обсерватории и в 2001 году назван в честь советского учёного и авиаконструктора Андрея Туполева. 12704 Tupolev Discovered 1990 Sept. 24 by L. V. Zhuravleva and G. R. Kastel' at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. Andrej Nikolaevich Tupolev (1888—1972) is known worldwide as an airplane designer. More than 100 types of airplanes were created under his guidance, including the first passenger jet aircraft Tu-104. Among the many notable accomplishments of his airplanes was the flight from Moscow over the North Pole to the U.S.A. in 1937. REF: 20010309/MPCPages.arc; MPC 42361 — Discovery Circumstances
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA