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
- 14.207
- Orbital period
- 1907.565203277919
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1987 QQ11
- time of discovery or invention
- 1987-08-27
Article · Русский
(4485) Радонежский (лат. Radonezhskij) — типичный астероид главного пояса, который был открыт 27 августа 1987 года советским астрономом Людмилой Черных в Крымской астрофизической обсерватории и назван в честь Сергия Радонежского. 4485 Radonezhskij Discovered at Nauchnyj on 1987-08-27 by L. I. Chernykh. Named in honor of Sergij Radonezhskij (c. 1321—1391), prominent figure in the Russian Church, a highly respected and honored person who was considered in Russia a protector of learners and learning. He actively supported Moscow Prince Dmitrij Donskoj in the policy of the consolidation of Russian principalities and in the national struggle for liberation against the Tartar-Mongolian yoke. REF: DISCOVERY.DB; MPC 22502 — Discovery Circumstances
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA