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
- 3.861
- Orbital period
- 1171.892105473042
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 2010 KR130
- time of discovery or invention
- 1976-09-24
Article · Русский
(4777) Аксёнов (лат. Aksenov) — типичный астероид главного пояса, который был открыт 24 сентября 1976 года советским астрономом Николаем Черных в Крымской астрофизической обсерватории и назван в честь советского астронома Евгения Аксёнова. 4777 Aksenov Discovered 1976-09-24 by Chernykh, N. S. at Nauchnyj. Named in memory of a well-known authority on celestial mechanics, Evgenij Petrovich Aksenov (1933—1995), director of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute in Moscow for many years. With Grebenikov and Demin he investigated and found a general solution for the generalized problem of two fixed centers, carrying out a qualitative investigation of all possible types of motion within the problem and considering their stability. He also developed an analytical theory for the motions of artificial satellites based on a non-Keplerian intermediate orbit, and he proved the existence of several new classes of periodic solutions within the circular restricted three-body problem. Name suggested by the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy. REF: DISCOVERY.DB; MPC 29143 — Discovery Circumstances
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA