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
- 1473.431208646489
Show 13 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1977 QL2
- time of discovery or invention
- 1977-08-21
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.09450321112236568
Article · Deutsch
(2529) Rockwell Kent ist ein Asteroid des Hauptgürtels, der am 21. August 1977 vom russischen Astronomen Nikolai Stepanowitsch Tschernych am Krim-Observatorium (Sternwarten-Code 095) in Nautschnyj entdeckt wurde. Der Asteroid wurde nach dem US-amerikanischen Maler und Grafiker Rockwell Kent (1882–1971) benannt, der den Roman Moby-Dick von Herman Melville mit Federzeichnungen illustrierte.
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA