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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
- J. Comas Solá
- Discovery date
- 20 March 1915
- Pronunciation
- / h ɪ ˈ s p eɪ n i ə /
- Named after
- Spain
- Alternative designations
- 1915 WT
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Hispanian
- Observation arc
- 39,655 d (108.57 yr)
- Aphelion
- 3.2343 AU (483.84 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.4418 AU (365.29 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.8381 AU (424.57 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.78 yr (1746.3 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.60 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 277.552 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 22.104 / day
- Inclination
- 15.395°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 347.611°
- Argument of perihelion
- 344.626°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 137.952
- Orbital period
- 1745.413624180039
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A915 FK
- time of discovery or invention
- 1915-03-20
- albedo
- 0.054
- Commons category
- 804 Hispania
- rotation period
- 14.845
- absolute magnitude
- 8.0
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1415760849272474
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.837047604652856
- periapsis
- 2.43538951203388
- apoapsis
- 3.238705697271832
- orbital inclination
- 15.3866816028538
- longitude of ascending node
- 347.5421087495417
- argument of periapsis
- 343.8444912610554
- mean anomaly
- 259.3730839937667
- time of periapsis
- 2461488.376639324
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
804 Hispania is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered from Barcelona (Spain) on 20 March 1915 by Josep Comas Solá (1868–1937), the first asteroid to be discovered by a Spaniard.
Hispania is a carbonaceous C-type asteroid. Busarev and Taran (2002) classed it as CP type with a spectrum that shows a highly hydrated body. It has a diameter of 122 kilometers according to measurements made with the W. M. Keck Observatory. This is 30% smaller than the size estimated from the IRAS observatory data. It has a size ratio of 1.16 between its major and minor axes. Two alternate rotation periods have been found for this asteroid: 7.4 hours and double that at 14.8 hours. To explain this discrepancy, it is possible the asteroid has a peculiar shape or it may be a double asteroid.