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
- Orbital period
- 1653.091613874336
Show 12 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 2003-05-02
- provisional designation
- 2003 JU17
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2295308768260996
Article · Español
Humfernandez (asteroide n.º 196476) es un asteroide del cinturón principal, descubierto el 2 de mayo de 2003 por los astrónomos Ignacio Ferrín y Carlos Alberto Leal en el Observatorio Astronómico Nacional de Llano del Hato, ubicado en la Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela. Su nombre es en honor a Humberto Fernández-Morán (1924-1999), reconocido científico y médico, inventor del bisturí de diamante, contribuyó al desarrollo del microscopio electrónico, introdujo el concepto de , y fundador del Instituto Venezolano de Neurología e Investigaciones Cerebrales (IVNIC), predecesor del actual Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC). Posee una excentricidad de 0,2310012 y un inclinación de 15,63281º.
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA