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
- 6.084
- Orbital period
- 1415.858721189574
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1986 EY3
- time of discovery or invention
- 1953-10-10
Article · Русский
(3958) Комендантов (лат. Komendantov) — типичный астероид главного пояса, который был открыт 10 октября 1953 года советским астрономом Пелагеей Фёдоровной Шайн в Симеизской обсерватории и в 1999 году назван в честь советского астронома . 3958 Komendantov Discovered 1953 Oct. 10 by P. F. Shajn at Simeis. Named in memory of Nikolaj Vasil'evich Komendantov (1895—1937), who was an active researcher of minor-planet motion. A staff member of the Astronomical Institute in Leningrad, he was arrested in 1936 on spurious charges, and the date of his death in prison is uncertain. Name suggested and citation prepared by Yu. V. Batrakov. REF: 19990402/MPCPages.arc; MPC 34340 — Discovery Circumstances
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