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
- 7.116
- Orbital period
- 1224.652382386699
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1981 YW1
- time of discovery or invention
- 1939-02-17
Article · Italiano
2535 Hämeenlinna è un asteroide della fascia principale. Scoperto nel 1939, presenta un'orbita caratterizzata da un semiasse maggiore pari a 2,2397115 au e da un'eccentricità di 0,0799857, inclinata di 3,42835° rispetto all'eclittica. L'asteroide è dedicato all'omonima città finlandese. Nel 2016 ne è stata ipotizzata la probabile natura binaria, senza tuttavia assegnare un nome pur provvisorio al satellite. Le due componenti del sistema, distanti tra loro 19 km, avrebbero dimensioni di circa 9,2 e 2 km. Il satellite orbiterebbe attorno al corpo principale in 21,23 ore.
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA