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
- 757.5667484905028
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1993 MO
- time of discovery or invention
- 1993-06-22
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2207238849932129
Article · Français
(6569) Ondaatje est un astéroïde Amor découvert le 26 juin 1993 par Jean Mueller à l'observatoire Palomar. Il est nommé d'après Michael Ondaatje, né le 12 septembre 1943 à Colombo, au Sri Lanka, romancier et poète canadien. Il est surtout connu pour son roman L'Homme flambé (The English Patient) sur lequel est basé le scénario du film à succès Le Patient anglais.
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA