Mariner Mars 1964, Mariners 3 and 4 to Mars: imaging plans? |
Mariner Mars 1964, Mariners 3 and 4 to Mars: imaging plans? |
Apr 28 2005, 05:05 PM
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10256 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
I am currently working on a book about lunar exploration, but looking ahead to the next one, which will cover Mars. One question to which I think I have an answer - but I'd like to see what my fellow Mars enthusiasts think - is this:
Mariner 3 failed to leave Earth. But if it had flown successfully, what area on Mars would it have photographed? My understanding is that there was no specific plan. The MM64 press kit, for instance, says nothing about image coverage for either Mariner 3 or Mariner 4. I believe that navigation to planetary distances was still so uncertain that the flight team could not predict at launch the sub-spacecraft point at closest approach - uncertainties included the exact time of the flyby, the distance and the point at which the spacecraft would pass through the target plane. These things would be known closer to the flyby but they weren't precisely predictable at launch, so Mariner 3 never got to the stage of having an imaging plan. Am I right? Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Jun 12 2006, 07:48 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
Note that despite the overwhelming impression of historical press coverage and post 1970 "historical" space reporting, Mariner 6 and 7 did see some of the "best" pieces.
Mariner 6 got some relatively clear views of chaotic terrain with the narrow angle camera and clear context from wide angle data that showed the "thermokarst like" (I think they said) collapsed terrain was part of a much larger regional feature extending into the west toward the limb and high-sun-illumination part of the disc. Mariner 7 showed some sub-parallel ridges and mountainous terrain on the edge of Hellas, and "featureless terrain" (apparently haze-filled atmosphere) on the floor of Hellas, leading the researchers to conclude (on the basis of imperfect evidence) that there were much younger terrains than the cratered terrain. Mariner 7 showed a complex pitted, cratered, and eroded terrain within the south polar cap, including the first view of the polar layered terrains. They couldn't guess what they were but they were clearly features of great interest. We didn't see the great channels or the great volcanoes, that was the bad luck of the camera pointings, but we DID get informative glimpses that there was much more than just old cratered terrains. |
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