Mariner 9
Successful 1971 Mars robotic spacecraft / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mariner 9 (Mariner Mars '71 / Mariner-I) was a robotic spacecraft that contributed greatly to the exploration of Mars and was part of the NASA Mariner program. Mariner 9 was launched toward Mars on May 30, 1971,[3][4] from LC-36B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and reached the planet on November 14 of the same year,[3][4] becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet[3] – only narrowly beating the Soviet probes Mars 2 (launched May 19) and Mars 3 (launched May 28), which both arrived at Mars only weeks later.
Mission type | Mars orbiter |
---|---|
Operator | NASA / JPL |
COSPAR ID | 1971-051A |
SATCAT no. | 5261 |
Mission duration | 1 year, 4 months and 26 days[1] |
Spacecraft properties | |
Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
Launch mass | 997.9 kilograms (2,200 lb) [2] |
Dry mass | 558.8 kilograms (1,232 lb) |
Power | 500 watts |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | May 30, 1971, 22:23:04 (1971-05-30UTC22:23:04Z) UTC |
Rocket | Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D |
Launch site | Cape Canaveral |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Decommissioned |
Deactivated | October 27, 1972 (1972-10-28) |
Decay date | Around October 2022 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Areocentric |
Eccentricity | 0.6014 |
Periareion altitude | 1,650 km (1,030 mi) |
Apoareion altitude | 16,860 km (10,480 mi) |
Inclination | 64.4 degrees |
Period | 11.9 hours / 719.47 minutes |
Epoch | 29 December 1971, 19:00:00 UTC[3] |
Mars orbiter | |
Orbital insertion | November 14, 1971, 00:42:00 UTC |
After the occurrence of dust storms on the planet for several months following its arrival, the orbiter managed to send back clear pictures of the surface. Mariner 9 successfully returned 7,329 images over the course of its mission, which concluded in October 1972.[5]