Mars 1 spacecraft

Mars 1 (1962 Beta Nu 1) was an automatic interplanetary station launched in the direction of Mars on November 1, 1962, the first of the Soviet Mars probe program, with the intent of flying by the planet at a distance of about 11,000 km. It was designed to image the surface and send back data on cosmic radiation, micrometeoroid impacts and Mars' magnetic field, radiation environment, atmospheric structure, and possible organic compounds. After leaving Earth orbit, the spacecraft and the booster fourth stage separated and the solar panels were deployed. Early telemetry indicated that there was a leak in one of the gas valves in the orientation system so the spacecraft was transferred to gyroscopic stabilization. Sixty-one radio transmissions were held, initially at two day intervals and later at 5 days in which a large amount of interplanetary data were collected. On 21 March 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106,760,000 km from Earth on its way to Mars, communications ceased, probably due to failure of the spacecraft's antenna orientation system. Mars 1 closest approach to Mars occurred on June 19, 1963 at a distance of approximately 193,000 km, after which the spacecraft entered a heliocentric orbit. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 438 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (512 × 700 pixel, file size: 74 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This picture shows the Mars 1 spacecraft. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 438 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (512 × 700 pixel, file size: 74 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This picture shows the Mars 1 spacecraft. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Soviet redirects here. ... The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. ... A kilometer (Commonwealth spelling: kilometre), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1,000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ... A Micrometeoroid (also micrometeorite, micrometeor) is a tiny meteoroid; a small particle of rock from space, usually weighing less than a gram, that poses a threat to space exploration. ... In physics, a magnetic field is an axial vector field that traces out solenoidal lines of force in and around closed electric circuits and bar magnets. ... Earth orbit is an orbit around the planet Earth. ... Telemetry is a technology that allows the remote measurement and reporting of information of interest to the system designer or operator. ... A gyroscope is a device which demonstrates the principle of conservation of angular momentum, in physics. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (81st in leap years). ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A heliocentric orbit is an orbit around the sun. ...

Spacecraft design

Mars 1 was a modified Venera-type spacecraft in the shape of a cylinder 3.3 m long and 1.0 m in diameter. The spacecraft measured 4 meters across with the solar panels and radiators deployed. The cylinder was divided into two compartments. The upper 2.7 m, the orbital module, contained guidance and on-board propulsion systems. The experiment module, containing the scientific instrumentation, comprised the bottom 0.6 m of the cylinder. A 1.7 m parabolic high gain antenna was used for communication, along with an omnidirectional antenna and a semi-directional antenna. Power was supplied by two solar panel wings with a total area of 2.6 square meters affixed to opposite sides of the spacecraft. Power was stored in a 42 ampere-hour cadmium-nickel battery. Venera 7 lander Color image taken from the surface of Venus by the Soviet Venera 13 lander The Venera (Russian: Венера; formerly, sometimes referred to as Venusik in the West) series of probes was developed by the USSR to gather data from Venus. ... A laundromat in California with flat-plate solar water heating collectors on its roof. ...

Communications were via a decimeter wavelength radio transmitter mounted in the orbital module which used the high-gain antenna. This was supplemented by a meter wavelength range transmitter through the omnidirectional antenna. An 8 centimeter wavelength transmitter mounted in the experiment module was designed to transmit the TV images. Also mounted in the experiment module was a 5-centimeter range impulse transmitter. Temperature control was achieved using a binary gas-liquid system and hemispherical radiators mounted on the ends of the solar panels. The craft carried various scientific instruments including a magnetometer probe, television photographic equipment, a spectroreflexometer, radiation sensors (gas-discharge and scintillation counters), a spectrograph to study ozone absorption bands, and a micrometeoroid instrument. A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument. ...

Scientific results

The probe recorded one micrometeorite strike every two minutes at altitudes ranging from 6000 to 40,000 km due to the Taurids meteor shower and also recorded similar densities at distances from 20 to 40 million km. Magnetic field intensities of 3–4 nanoteslas (nT, also known as gammas) with peaks as high as 6–9 nT were measured in interplanetary space and the solar wind was detected. Measurements of cosmic rays showed that their intensity had almost doubled since 1959. The radiation zones around the Earth were detected and their magnitude confirmed. In physics, a magnetic field is an axial vector field that traces out solenoidal lines of force in and around closed electric circuits and bar magnets. ... The nanotesla (nT) is a unit of magnetic flux density equal to 10−9 tesla (unit). ...

This spacecraft is also referenced as Sputnik 23 and Mars 2MV-4. It was originally designated Sputnik 30 in the U.S. Naval Space Command Satellite Situation Summary.

See also

• Exploration of Mars
• Space exploration
• Unmanned space missions
• Marsnik program