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
- Orbital period
- 1167.031302803625
Show 13 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1993 OW8
- time of discovery or invention
- 1990-10-09
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1751168927552811
Article · Svenska
6316 Méndez eller 1990 TL6 är en asteroid i huvudbältet som upptäcktes den 9 oktober 1990 av den australiensiske astronomen Robert H. McNaught vid Siding Spring-observatoriet. Den är uppkallad efter Mariano Méndez. Den tillhör asteroidgruppen Flora.
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA