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
- 9.227
- Orbital period
- 1778.693944176992
- Image
- 004981-asteroid shape model (4981) Sinyavskaya.png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1987 KL4
Article · Русский
(4981) Синявская (лат. Sinyavskaya) — типичный астероид главного пояса, который был открыт 12 ноября 1974 года советским астрономом Людмилой Черных в Крымской астрофизической обсерватории и в 1997 году назван в честь советской и российской оперной певицы и педагога Тамары Синявской. 4981 Sinyavskaya Discovered 1974-11-12 by Chernykh, L. I. at Nauchnyj. Named in honor of Tamara Il'inichna Sinyavskaya, distinguished Russian singer, soloist at the Bolshoj Theatre in Moscow and performer of many roles in classical and modern operas. REF: DISCOVERY.DB; MPC 26763 — Discovery Circumstances
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