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
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Raymond Smith Dugan
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 20 October 1903
- Alternative designations
- 1903 MO
- Observation arc
- 112.49 yr (41086 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1107 AU (465.35 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.9544 AU (292.37 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5325 AU (378.86 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.03 yr (1472.1 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 21.1970 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 40.38 / day
- Inclination
- 6.7288°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 203.955°
- Argument of perihelion
- 117.567°
- Mean radius
- 7.815 ± 0.9 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 14.310 h (0.5963 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.2880 ± 0.079
via Wikipedia infobox
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
518 Halawe is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It is named after the Middle Eastern confectionery halva.
References
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “518 Halawe” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.