MARINER

VENUS

E FILE
COPY
 NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE
ADMINISTRATION

CONTENTS

1. Inner Planet 1 It/TA T~\ TT^. T11I \

2 TickettoRide 5 M AK1JN l!jK

Launch Vehicle 5
Mariner Spacecraft 6
Tracking and Data System 8
Mission Operations 9 "\T C^^Vl id

3. Night Train 11
V JLiN U o
Look Homeward, Mariner 13
Duet With the Comet 14

4. Transfer Point: Pressure-Cooker \/| H W~\ I r\ Y

Planet 17 1V1JLI\\J U IV I
Secret Planet 17
The Venus Parade 19
Science at the Corner 20

5. Destination Mercury 23
1Q7Q
I ^J I «J
Broiled World 23
First Flyby 25

6. Running Free 27 MB
Round Trip 28 j-, f+ C*
Relativity 28 ^ .1^ O C. I 1*
Souvenirs 29 ^^ P% ^/

Technical Memorandum 33-657 ^^ ^^

This document presents work carried out by and for

the Mariner Venus/Mercury Project Office, JPL, under
contract No. NAS 7-100, sponsored by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration. Written by
James H. Wilson, designed by Frank J. Licher.
Set on the IBM Composer by Louise Beard.

JET PROPULSION LABORATORY

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
Cover: Spacecraft enters Mercury's shadow. October 15, 1973
 1. INNER PLANET TOUR
THREE PLANETS, FIVE MONTHS, $98
MILLION! No travel agency can yet offer such
a packaged winter tour to anyone. But seven
scientific teams are taking a tour from the
Earth—Moon system by way of Venus to
Mercury, by proxy, in late 1973 and early
1974, with options on a midflight survey of
Kohoutek's Comet and a return trip to the
planet Mercury as added attractions.
This mission, part of NASA's continuing
scientific exploration of the Solar System, will
be the tenth flight in the Mariner Project series
c o n d u c t e d by C a l t e c h ' s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. The spacecraft is propelled, like all
the M a r i n e r s since Number Six, by an
Atlas/Centaur rocket system built by General
Dynamics/Convair for NASA's Lewis Research
Center and launched by a composite team at
the John F. Kennedy Space Center. Modified
greatly from earlier Mariners, the spacecraft was
b u i l t by The Boeing Company in Kent,
Washington, for JPL. It is tracked on its
three-planet tour by the worldwide NASA/JPL
Deep Space Network and controlled by a
project t e a m f r o m J P L ' s Space Flight
Operations Facility in Pasadena, California.
Like each earlier interplanetary Mariner, this
vehicle leaves behind its entire crew of more
t h a n a t h o u s a n d s c i e n t i s t s , engineers,
technicians, and other essential people.
Though it is a fascinating object of study to
the planetologist, Venus is part of this Mariner
itinerary primarily for another reason: the
p l a n e t ' s gravitational field can provide a
necessary extra stage of propulsion, enough to
reach Mercury economically. The spacecraft
must be aimed very precisely for its planetary
flyby so that, on leaving Venus, its speed is
reduced and its direction pulled sunward so
that it falls the rest of the way to the innermost
planet rather than coasting back out in the
direction of Earth's orbit. The first stage of
ballistic flight, to Venus, takes about three
months; the second, to Mercury, about two.
The t e c h n i q u e of using one planet's
gravitation to reach the next receives its first
test in Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973. Worked
out in the early 1960s by Clarke and Minovitch,
it was at the core of the dramatic Outer Planet

Left, Mariner spacecraft coasts past Mercury

(Boeing Company painting)
 EARTH

SECOND MANEUVER
JANAURY 18. 1972 FIRST MANEUVER
NOVEMBER 13
EARTH AT "If
VENUS ENCOUNTER VENUS 2 days
FEBRUARY 5 EARTH/MOON OBSERVATION

LAUNCH
THIRD MANEUVER NOVEMBER 2/3, 1973
FEBRUARY 9

EARTH
AT MERCURY
ENCOUNTER
MARCH 29

10 days

MERCURY OBSERVATION

Mariner 1973 mission plan calls for three planetary encounters, four maneuvers

Grand Tour proposal, in which five planets between Earth and Moon, Venus, and Mercury.
were to be linked together in a single flight. It Our planet and Venus are about the same size
will be essential to the Mariner Jupiter/Saturn and mass ( t h o u g h vastly different in
1977 m i s s i o n . The method requires the atmosphere and surface conditions); the Moon
coincidence of the various planets along the and M e r c u r y are also thought to be a
great spiral travelled by the spacecraft at the comparable pair. Mercury, of course receives its
correct times; for all five outer planets, this first close-up investigation from this flight.
occurs only every 130 years, but for Venus and A similar comparative investigation of solar
Mercury it happens about every dozen years; activity by instruments immersed in it, all over
therefore 1973-74 is a good opportunity for the solar system, may be conducted. As the
this flight. M a r i n e r spacecraft travels from Earth to
Among the scientific opportunities offered Mercury, two Pioneer Jupiter spacecraft are
by this particular multiple mission, perhaps the flying out beyond the asteroid belt and the
greatest is the direct comparison, using the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) is in
same instruments over a short interval of time, Earth orbit. Similar magnetometers, plasma
detectors, and cosmic radiation telescopes on spacecraft. More than a decade's swift progress
these spacecraft, as well as the many types of in planetary and space science, including the
instruments in Earth's laboratories, will work experience of preparing and flying spacecraft
together in mapping the solar wind, magnetic and scientific instruments in Earth satellites,
storms, and flares as they emerge from the Sun the l u n a r program, Pioneer and Mariner
and f l o w outward through the planetary missions, have led toward a unifying vision of
system. the phenomena of the Solar System, coupled
with instrumental capabilities which support
MARINER multi-media investigations of the nature of a
planet and its environment. Mercury and Venus
will be subjected to this searching investigation
NOVEMBER
1973 in early 1974 by many kinds of scientists, from
geologist to astrophysicist, using every type of
i n s t r u m e n t from TV telescopes to radio
transmitters.

Everything we learn about another planet is

PIONEER 11
compared and contrasted with what we already
know about this planet; everything we learn
about the Sun is in itself knowledge of our
world. Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973 is designed
to add one new planet, Mercury, to the compar-
PIONEER 10 ison; to add greatly to what we have learned in
previous Venus missions by the US and the
JUPITER^ USSR, and to study the Sun's behavior from a
Mariner/Pioneer collaboration prospects new, close perspective. In addition, it pioneers a
new technique of reaching more distant planets,
A third feature of coordination in this and increases our experience in interplanetary
mission is between the different scientific exploration. This Mariner flight is a new step in
i n s t r u m e n t s a b o a r d the single Mariner our continuing journey to knowledge.

INNOVATIONS IN THIS MISSION

First Mercury flyby mission, first close-up pictures of clouds of Venus, first survey of solar plasma as close as
Mercury.

First use of gravity-turn mission at one planet to reach another.

Direct comparison with identical science equipment between four planetary bodies: Earth, Moon, Venus, Mercury.

Support of coordinated observation of solar wind and flares at 0.4, 1.0, and 5.2 astronomical units from Sun.

First interplanetary X-band (8500-megahertz) tracking.

Highest interplanetary data rate, permitting real-time interplanetary television transmission as normal mode.

Most rigorous interplanetary navigation requirements, supporting gravity turn at Venus and repeated Mercury flyby.
w
 2. TICKET TO RIDE
The means and mechanisms by which the These four components which carry out the
scientific potential of Mariner Venus/Mercury mission are called the systems of the Mariner
1973 is turned into real achievement and new Project. Though each is focused upon machines
understanding of the world around us include of different kinds, to various degrees, these
some complicated machines which had to be systems consist of human beings, their skills,
b u i l t , p r e - e x i s t i n g computers and other tools, and creations.
general-purpose equipment which had to be
programmed and scheduled, and complex and Launch Vehicle
difficult operations which had to be designed,
learned, and rehearsed. The key to all of these Atlas/Centaur is the name of a large,
was the mission design which binds them powerful, multi-stage rocket vehicle, earlier
together. versions of which delivered seven Surveyor
The M a r i n e r mission design for 1973 Landers to the Moon and three Mariner
p r e s c r i b e d t h a t e a r l y in November the spacecraft to Mars, as well as putting various
spacecraft and launch vehicle systems, having large unmanned machines in Earth orbit. The
been assembled, tested, and qualified for the launch vehicle consists of several rocket
mission, would be launched from the John F. engines, many tons of kerosene-like fuel, liquid
Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in such a way oxygen, and liquid hydrogen in thin-walled
that the spacecraft falls around the Sun in a stainless-steel tanks, structural members and
ballistic path passing through a selected aim
point above the planet Venus at a precise time. ATLAS/CENTAUR CHARACTERISTICS
The preferred time of launch was determined to
be in the middle of the night, East Coast time, Total length: 36 m (117 ft)
between November 2 and 3. The corresponding Launch weight: 147,000 Kg (162 tons) plus
preferred time of arrival at Venus worked out spacecraft
to be February 5, 1974. The spacecraft would
then reach the vicinity of Mercury at 2000 Atlas D Stage: two booster engines, one
sustainer, burning RP-1 in liquid oxygen,
GMT, March 29, as afternoon stretches across
total thrust 1.92 million newtons
America. Actually, the Mercury pass defines the (431,000 Ibf).
events leading to it. Its characteristics were
determined from the various observations the Centaur D-1a stage: two 67,000-newton
scientific experimenters want to make there, (15,000 Ih) thrust engines, burning liquid
hydrogen and liquid oxygen; radio-inertial
for the Mercury portion of this scientific
guidance.
voyage is paramount. The capability of the
Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle, and the mass of
the Mariner spacecraft (partly determined by its i n s u l a t i o n panels, and a highly accurate
passenger list of scientific equipment) form a guidance system. It has been in service for ten
crucial part of these calculations and decisions. y e a r s , and is built by General
In addition, the capability and geometry of the Dynamics/Convair Astronautics in San Diego,
Deep Space Network stations around the world, California, a company which once made flying
and the capacity of the telecommunications boats and Liberator bombers for World War II.
system between the Mariner spacecraft in flight Because of its lightweight design, the Atlas
and the controllers and scientists on Earth stage needs to be full of fuel and oxygen to
affect the design of the venture. Finally, the stand up in Earth's gravity; when it's empty,
o p e r a t i o n a l a b i l i t y of the ground-based the rocket has to be held up by a sling, or
complex of human beings, computing systems, blown up like a balloon with compressed air.
and procedures to handle and act upon the Yet when it's in action, the rocket reaches an
information sent to them from their machine in acceleration of 5.76 g's in 146 seconds, and
space defined what could be done and how it could deliver its spacecraft to the interplanetary
would occur. transfer point in 11.7 minutes. For this mission,
however, the upper stage coasts almost halfway
around the Earth in 34.5 minutes, where the
final push is delivered over Earth's sunny side.
The Atlas/Centaur is launched from Pad 36
at the John F. Kennedy Space Center, which
was built for it in 1962. It flies out across and
above the South Atlantic, while stations on
small islands and instrumented aircraft track its
signals and monitor its progress. As the Centaur
stage and the spacecraft rise higher above the
Earth, they seem to turn around in the sky,
until they are passing from East to West with
the Sun. By this time they are out of range of
Mariner 4 Mars spacecraft, 1964-65
the Eastern Test Range stations, and it is only
the big antennas of the Deep Space Stations in conducted dual-frequency radio probes of the
Australia, Spain, and California which will atmosphere and sampled the solar-plasma
follow the Mariner tracking and telemetry interaction with Venus. Two new Mariner
signals from horizon to horizon. spacecraft, built on the model of Mariner 4 but
much heavier and carrying a sophisticated
Mariner Spacecraft scientific complement devoted exclusively to
planetary investigation, flew by Mars in 1969,
The machine which is actually making the analyzing the planet's atmosphere and returning
three-planet tour is, in its design, a mixture of pictures of broad swaths near the equator and
old and new elements. Its ancestor is Mariner 4, the South Pole. A modified version of the 1969
the first spacecraft to conduct a scientific Mars design, with a large propulsion system and a
mission, which sent back pictures and other s i m i l a r planetological scientific instrument
s c i e n t i f i c i n f o r m a t i o n in mid-1965 and group, was placed in orbit about Mars in 1971,
operated in orbit for a total of three years. The where, in a year of operations, it took more
s p a r e s p a c e c r a f t from that mission was than 7000 images of the surface, together with
converted for a Venus flight in 1967, when it other scientific information.
Below, Mariner Venus/Mercury spacecraft weighed and balanced at Boeing plant

'-

" I \i i
*ASH
Il'liT
 But the new Mariner spacecraft faces
d r a s t i c a l l y d i f f e r e n t challenges. Where a
spacecraft going to Mars needed four broad
solar panels to capture enough solar energy to
operate its electrical equipment, the Venus
mission offers a surplus of sunlight and heat,
which grows to painful excess as the machine
approaches Mercury. All the skills of the
designer must be engaged to deflect heat, rather
than husband it. Both Mariner 2 and Mariner 5
are believed to have expired, after completing
their Venus encounters, from overexposure to
the Sun's output. This new Mariner must keep
Thermal test in JPL solar simulator
cool all the way in to Mercury, where the Sun is
five times as hot as at Earth; it hides behind a in the ground receiving systems, increased the
white fabric umbrella, made of the same "beta rate for planetary data return to 16,000 bits per
cloth" that covers astronauts' suits. Safe in the second. In the Venus/Mercury mission a rate of
shade, the spacecraft body is quite cold, though 117,000 will be used at Venus; and at least
the exposed solar panels are quite hot. 22,000 at Mercury. This permits the scientists
There has been a striking increase in to obtain much more information, as well as
spacecraft communication rate over the dozen more "live" pictures, during the short period
years of the Mariner Program. These spacecraft the spacecraft spends near each planet.
have used digital telemetry, a method like Exstremely accurate flight is required in this
Morse Code which can punch through distance mission - reaching Venus at the correct place,
and galactic noise, partly by lowering the rate time, speed, and direction to be thrown toward
at which data are sent as the distance increases. Mercury, then approaching Mercury with the
The first three missions used a 33-1/3 bit per same kind of accuracy to perform both the
second rate part way, and 8-1/3 bits per second scientific investigation planned and to return to
at the planet. The succeeding Mars missions, by this planet 176 days later. Four corrective
large improvements both at the spacecraft and thrusting maneuvers are planned before the first

MARINER'S SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS

Experiment Team Leader Instrument Purpose

Bruce C. Murray, TV Cameras (2) Planet surface, cloud, star, comet viewing,
Caltech colors and ultraviolet.

Herbert S. Bridge, Plasma Detectors (2) Solar wind measurements, planetary radiation
MIT belts, etc.

Stillman C. Chase, Infrared Radiometer Temperature measurements and thermal

Santa Barbara Research mapping.

Norman F. Ness, Magnetometers (2) Planetary and space magnetic field

Goddard Space Flight measurements.
Center

John F. Simpson, Charged Particle Telescopes (2) Survey of higher-energy particles in space (by
University of Chicago direction, kind, intensity).

A. Lyle Broadfoot, Ultraviolet Spectrometer (2) Analysis of upper atmosphere's luminous night
Kitt Peak Observatory clouds, comet, etc.

H. Taylor Howard, X—Band and S—Band Radio Science Atmosphere properties, space properties, etc.
Stanford University
Mercury pass: one near Earth, to narrow the Tracking and Data System
initial dispersion, another close to Venus to
fine-tune the passage through her gravitational Over a decade ago, in the time of the first
field, a third after Venus has changed Mariner's Mariners, the Deep Space Network came into
path, and the fourth at the beginning of the being as a ring of great dish antennas located in
approach to Mercury. After the encounter with out-of-the way sites around the world, capable
Mercury, three more maneuvers are expected to of f o l l o w i n g , and communicating with,
ensure that Mariner comes back for a second spacecraft at distances above 10,000 miles from
pass. For each of these maneuvers, the Earth's surface. As Mariner has evolved, so has
spacecraft is turned until its small rocket the c o m p l e x of t r a c k i n g , control, and
engine - pointed at the Sun during the long communication equipment which keeps Earth
b a l l i s t i c cruise - is aimed in a direction in touch with these deep-space enterprises.
calculated to change the path as needed, then The f i r s t of the long-range steerable
the engine burns until the velocity change is antennas, with parabolic reflectors 26 meters
completed. (85 feet) in diameter, was built in the California
Each of these survival functions — thermal d e s e r t near Goldstone Dry Lake. Global
c o n t r o l , communications, and flight coverage was complete when matching systems
accuracy — has been carried out in previous were installed near Johannesburg, South Africa,
designs, under different conditions, and in and Woomera, Australia. Now there are three
varied ways. The flight of Venus and Mercury 26-meter antennas at Goldstone and an
poses new and more difficult problems in these advanced antenna system with a 64-meter (210
areas. Mariner's designers have provided for feet) reflector; one of each size in Australia's
other functions, such as attitude control, T i d b i n b i l l a complex; and three antennas,
equipment packaging, telemetry reporting of including one of 64-meter diameter, in Spain.
engineering performance, structural integrity Each station is operated by local contractors
during the launch, spacecraft computer control, and government agencies, and the whole
etc., mostly in the ways developed in earlier network is managed for NASA by JPL. They
p r o j e c t s , because this mission is not so have supported Pioneer and Mariner missions as
exceptional in everything as it is in the thermal well as three unmanned lunar projects and the
control and navigation areas. A p o l l o L u n a r Landing missions. Mariner
Below, Deep Space Station, Tidbinbilla, Australia, with 26-m and 64-m antennas
Venus/Mercury 1973 is the first Mariner Project take as it approaches its target planet on a
to have the advantage of a complete chain of prescribed course.
the 64-meter advanced antenna systems, whose
sensitive receiving equipment makes possible Mission Operations
the high data rates provided for this mission. The exact form of what the project actually
The stations are linked together and to their does with its spacecraft throughout the flight is
central control point in Pasadena by elements called the mission operations. The navigation,
of NASA's Ground Communications System, engineering operations, and scientific work of
which uses submarine cables, land lines, radio the remote laboratory instrument called the
links, and communication satellite channels to Mariner spacecraft is the responsibility of an
ensure that no data are lost. The system is earth-bound crew of about 120 people.
directed, and its coverage of multiple missions A similar but larger group, operating at and
is scheduled, from JPL. around the John F. Kennedy Space Center,
The Mission C o n t r o l and Computing conducts launch operations, and as soon as
Complex is a part of JPL's data-processing these are completed less than an hour after
capability organized to support space flight liftoff, the Mission Operations takes over.
operations. Partly a spin-off from the Deep Mariner's space crew has certain special
Space Network, it provides for machine analysis equipment and many computer programs to
of spacecraft tracking, converting S-band work with, but for the most part the operations
doppler residuals and ranging information into depend on the crew's skills and training, and
accurate plots of the spacecraft's position and the complex plan worked out in detail and
motion. It also processes engineering telemetry carefully rehearsed before each operation is
and scientific data sent to Earth from the conducted. The actual flight conditions are
spacecraft, producing warnings of dangerous never exactly as predicted, and surprising events
s i t u a t i o n s in the spacecraft should they or even failures can occur at any time. In
develop, and various plots, spectra, and image addition, early scientific observations may call
reconstructions. A variety of special programs for changes in later investigations in the same
have been developed in recent Mariner missions, mission, and it is up to the Mariner mission
one of the most interesting of which creates a operators to supply enough flexibility in
series of line drawings predicting the areas to be designs and procedures to accommodate
covered by television pictures a spacecraft can changes in plan as efficiently as possible.

Members of Mariner Mission operations team during preflight test

 3. NIGHT TRAIN
The m a j o r p a r t of the Mariner best possible communications with the Earth is
Venus/Mercury 1973 mission is spent far away a third.
from Venus or Mercury. Yet it is no idle time, These t h r e e f a c t o r s depend on the
for what happens in the swift passage by these spacecraft's maintaining its orientation in space.
planets depends on preparatory work done For t h i s reason telemetry readouts from
d u r i n g the two "cruise phases," and the attitude control equipment occupy many of the
scientific program includes extended time-shared channels in the engineering signal
instrument operations during the interplanetary received from the spacecraft. The desired
flight. attitude is maintained automatically by cold-gas
Activities during the cruise phase might be jets controlled by Sun and star sensors, gyros,
divided into four classes, each engaging the and control amplifiers. The bright stars Vega
o p e r a t i o n s c r e w s on the ground, their and Canopus serve as angular references.
computing and data-processing equipment, the
deep-space communications link, and the Most spacecraft operational sequences,
spacecraft flying ever farther away. These including maneuvers, planetary encounters,
activities are navigation, engineering, scientific instrument calibrations, and the like, are
instrument calibration, and scientific controlled by the spacecraft's programmable
observations. Inevitably there is some mixture c o m p u t e r ; some operations may also be
and interdependence among the operations. commanded directly from Earth by radio
The most crucial requirement of this mission signals. As more computer memory space is
is to reach the planet Mercury. This goal freed during the progress of the mission, and as
requires an accurate launch, a careful passage the times and dimensions of the planetary
through the gravitational field of Venus, and encounters become more accurately known, the
the four small correction maneuvers performed spacecraft operators will re-program these
during the flight. The timing of such maneuvers sequences to be sure they will be accomplished
results from an engineering tradeoff: the earlier as well as possible even if the command link
the maneuver, the less fuel required to make a were broken at some crucial time.
given change at the target zone; the later the
maneuver, the more time beforehand for Another periodic activity is the preparation
tracking. Therefore the more accurately the and calibration of the scientific instruments for
required change is known, the smaller the effect o b s e r v a t i o n a l use. The magnetometer is
of errors in the maneuver itself. The effort of calibrated periodically throughout the flight by
tracking and calculating, then maneuvering, putting the spacecraft into a slow windmill roll.
then tracking and calculating again, moves the Magnetic fields present in surrounding space
spacecraft's actual arrival point close to the seem to rotate, while those resulting from
desired target, first above Venus and then over spacecraft electrical equipment remain fixed in
Mercury, and occupies Mariner's navigation direction relative to the spacecraft sensors.
team during most of the mission. During the rolling, the ultraviolet spectrometer
sweeps the sky and is calibrated on the stars.
The next most crucial requirement (really The plasma detectors and charged-particle
part of the first one) is for the equipment to telescope are also checked at intervals to
reach the planets in good condition. Everything determine whether they have "drifted" from
should be working. This is the concern of the the known relation of sensed phenomena to
spacecraft performance team. They must be signal output. The television cameras can be
sure that the instruments and devices are being calibrated during or between operations using a
protected from the heat of the Sun and the special lens on each filter wheel, but the whole
cold of space — though generally the space experiment is calibrated early in flight using
e n v i r o n m e n t is a healthy one for these Earth and Moon as test targets, in operations
equipments. Assurance of adequate electrical that constitute special scientific investigations
power is another concern. Maintenance of the and are described later.

11
Launch Weight: 499 kg (1100 Ib)

Span (panels extended): 7.6 m (26 ft)

OUTBOARD
Radio Transmitter Output: 10 or 20 watts S Band MAGNETOMETER -
200 mw X Band
LOWGAIN
ANTENNA __«
Engineering Telemetry: 90 measurements at 2450 or
33-1/3 bits/sec, programmable selection. ULTRAVIOLET
SPECTROMETER ^
AIRGLOW
Science Data Rates: 117.6, 22.05, 2.45 kilobits/sec

Tape Recorder: 8 track, 550 ft of 1/2 in. tape

180 million bits

Computer: Memory holds 512 22-bit words, program-

mable for observation and calibration sequences.
Fixed maneuver sequencer. Master clock.

Electrical Power: 340—490 watts required. Nickel-

cadmium battery, 20 amp-hr at 39 v. Total of 8122
solar cells, peak output 500 watts.
CHARGED PARTICLE TELESCOPE
S p a c e c r a f t Propulsion: Monopropellant hydrazine SOLAR PANEL PIVOT
rocket engine, restartable, capable of changing
spacecraft velocity by total of 119 m/sec. ACQUISITION SUN
SENSOR

HIGH-GAIN ANTENNA

REACTION CONTROL JETS-

Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973 spacecraft

The continuing scientific operations which The c h a r g e d - p a r t i c l e telescope detects

occupy the interplanetary phases of flight have high-energy electrons and light-element nuclei
to do primarily with the fields and particles with two devices aimed about 45 degrees from
experiments. Mounted on a six-meter-long the Sun line, one of them with an additional
(20-ft) f o l d i n g boom, each of the two rear field of view. Its purpose is to monitor
m a g n e t o m e t e r instruments contains three solar and galactic cosmic rays and solar-flare
fluxgate sensors to indicate field strength and particles, and to seek trapped charged-particle
direction. After leaving the Earth's field, the belts and plasma/planet interactions at the two
m a g n e t o m e t e r investigates the thin and target planets. Such structures around Earth
fluctuating magnetism which emanates from have been extensively studied, and a previous
the Sun, borne on the steadily flowing plasma investigation of Venus found a relatively weak
and the irregular, intense streams which rush plasma interaction and no trapped belts.
out from solar flares. It will also help define the The solar wind is a great slow spherical river
plasma's interactions with the planets, and of charged particles which flows out in all
search for evidence of planetary magnetic fields directions from the Sun, guided by and carrying
d u r i n g the planetary encounters, like the along the solar magnetic field. It is usually
Mariner instruments which flew by Venus in investigated by spacecraft which immerse in it
1962 and Mars in 1965 at considerably greater p l a s m a detectors like the 1973 Mariner's
distances. scanning electrostatic analyzer and scanning

12
electron spectrometer. No previous experiment
has ever been closer to the source of the flow
t h a n the orbit of Venus; these Mariner
instruments will reach out to the distance of
Mercury, more than twice as close to the Sun as
Earth. It is believed that at this close point the
experiment may detect physical processes
which occur in the wind as it expands and
becomes less dense.
In addition, the ultraviolet spectrometer
experiment conducts periodic sky surveys in a
search for the interplanetary and galactic
sources of diffuse ultraviolet hydrogen and
helium emissions. These radiations are blocked One of two identical TV telescopes
from Earth-based surveys by our atmosphere.
overlapping narrow-angle images will be taken
Look Homeward, Mariner of the Earth and the Moon, in sequences which
serve to rehearse and calibrate for the
Some of the earliest scientific data acquired corresponding activities at Venus and Mercury.
by the Mariner spacecraft are planetary in The television picture mosaics themselves are
nature. In the first few hours of flight, the unlikely to reveal anything new about the Earth
cameras are turned on Earth and the Moon, and or the Moon, but in conjunction with similar
mosaics of views, rather like those scheduled data taken at Venus and Mercury, three and
for the Venus and Mercury encounters, are five months later, they may well provide new
begun. This approach-in-reverse, in which the light in comparative planetology.
planet gradually shrinks in the pictures as the The Earth is surrounded by vast, thin,
spacecraft recedes from it, lasts for about 3-1/2 invisible clouds of neutral and ionized hydrogen
days. Several color telephoto-mosaics of and helium which trail out toward space in the
force of the solar emissions which replenish
them. These clouds fluoresce in the ultraviolet
light and the ultraviolet spectrometer scans
them to determine their extent and structure.
In addition, for comparison with Mercury,
should that body resemble the Moon in more
than size, our satellite's ultraviolet reflecting
properties are studied.

DETECTOR 112)

The Moon, photographed from Apollo 8 Ultraviolet airglow spectrometer

13
 The instruments which will be turned on our Duet with the Comet
E a r t h — M o o n system early in the
Venus/Mercury flight are mounted on a scan Mark Twain used to remark that he came in
platform or turret in the center of the shaded with the comet, and expected to go out with it;
side of the spacecraft in a Mariner style in fact his life was spanned between the last
maintained unchanged in flights to Mars since two appearances of Halley's Comet, which visits
1964. They are placed in such a way that they
can never, so long as the spacecraft maintains
its proper attitude, see the Sun, which would
destroy them. The two identical television
cameras and airglow ultraviolet spectrometer
point in almost the same direction, which is
controlled by the spacecraft computer.
COMET KOHOUTEK

Each television instrument consists of a

vidicon image tube and two optical systems.
The main telescope is a 1500-mm, f/8.43
Cassegrain reflecting telescope, something like
the large Questar or a super-telephoto, with a
field of view only a fraction of a degree wide. It Mariner - comet geometry
is backed by an eight-position filter wheel with
c l e a r and color sections, UV-polarizing, our skies every three-quarters of a century.
UV-blocking, and UV-passing filters (for cloud Mariner Venus/Mercury lifts off Earth about
studies especially), the calibration lens, and a the time the newly discovered Comet Kohoutek
periscope mirror to the wide-angle optics. This passes the orbit of Mars on its way in toward
auxiliary wide-angle system, mounted like the the Sun, but it will be only two weeks past
f i n d e r scope on an amateur astronomer's Venus when the comet reaches that distance on
instrument, is a 62-mm f/8.5 refractor, with a its way out again. The spacecraft's camera
field of about 8 x 1 0 degrees. It is used when cannot peer around the sunshade and glimpse
the planet is quite close, and to cover a large the comet until mid-January, when the two
area on a single frame. The image provided by travellers are 100 million kilometers (over 60
this complex optical system is about the size of million miles) apart, about as close as they will
a 16-mm movie frame, but it is presented on ever be and 20% closer than the comet can
the faceplate of a vidicon .tube where it is come to Earth.
registered electrostatically and read out by an Earth-based observatory telescopes are far
electron beam in a period of 42 sec. Shuttering more powerful than Mariner's, and the Skylab
a l t e r n a t e l y , the two cameras deliver satellite can bring more and larger instruments
a p p r o x i m a t e l y t h r e e pictures every two to bear on the comet. But Mariner can observe
minutes; these can be transmitted directly to Kohoutek 24 hours per day, never eclipsed by
Earth from at least as far as the Venus the Earth nor occluded by our atmosphere and
encounter, recorded for playback at a lower weather. Even Skylab must look through the
rate, or edited to partial pictures for direct E a r t h ' s extended hydrogen corona, while
return at the lower rate when distance makes Mariner's cameras and ultraviolet spectrometer
communication more difficult. The high rate of scan unimpeded through interplanetary space to
communications- from Venus, 4-1/2 times as view and analyze the comet's nucleus, coma,
large as the data rate Mariner 9 used to return and invisible corona.
its Mars pictures - and two cameras permit the Only the turret-mounted airglow
extensive multicolor coverage of flyby targets spectrometer can scan about the sky, analyzing
required by all parts of the mission. interplanetary gases, Earth, and the comet. An

14
additional instrument fixed to the spacecraft materials illuminated by sunlight, and its
body points in the direction of the Sun, and principal purpose is the study of planetary
will be used principally to observe the filtering atmospheres.
and scattering of ultraviolet sunlight by Two weeks a f t e r the comet-observing
Mercury's (assumed) atmosphere when the opportunity, the Mariner spacecraft begins its
spacecraft flies into the planet's shadow. The approach to Venus. Though by this time it has
airglow instrument cannot look any closer than travelled more than 146 million miles from
53 degrees from the Sun. It has an array of launch, and sent back to Earth hundreds of
collimating baffles, whose slits restrict the field thousands of scientific measurements including
of view to a rectangle 3.6 degrees long, 1.2 about 1200 television pictures, the largest tasks
degrees wide, and a concave diffraction grating and most difficult times still lie ahead. The
which spreads the extreme ultraviolet spectrum solar panels are delivering more electrical power
(300—1700 Angstrom units, whereas visible than the spacecraft needs, and have already
light runs from 4000 to 7000 Angstroms in been tilted slightly off the Sun to reduce heat
wavelength) out across 12 detectors situated to intake. Between Venus and Mercury they will
measure the intensity at critical frequencies. be tUted still further - otherwise the very
The occultation instrument has four detectors. solder in their circuits might melt. Mariner is
The scanning instrument detects radiation entering a critical period in its mission and for
emitted by hydrogen, helium, argon, oxygen, its survival. But this spacecraft has been
neon, carbon, and other atoms, together with carefully designed to stand up under the
indications from certain molecular gases. It close-range pounding of the fierce star that
serves as a remote gas-analysis system for turns Earth's skies blue every morning.

15
Venus as if seen from approaching Mariner (actually photographed from Table Mountain Observatory)

16
 4. TRANSFER POINT: PRESSURE-COOKER PLANET
Our planet's atmosphere is clearer than that Secret Planet
of Venus, and more cloudy than that of Mars;
the advantage over both is that we can breathe The planet Venus is perpetually covered in
it. Another benefit we have over Venus is that bright reflecting clouds, at a level some 75
we can see the stars some nights, though not so kilometers (48 miles) above the surface. Below
often nor so clearly as if we were on Mars. All t h i s l a y e r , t h e a t m o s p h e r e , consisting
the stars, with a few exceptions, rise about four p r e d o m i n a n t l y of carbon dioxide, grows
minutes earlier each night than the previous steadily thicker until it reaches a pressure 90
night, in an annual repetition which holds its times that of the air we breathe. About 70% of
spherical pattern time out of mind. The the sunlight bounces off the cloud deck, and
wandering exceptions have long been known as most of the remainder is absorbed or bent
planets — for about four centuries we have around the lens-like dense gas below. As a
known they were not stars — which weave consequence we cannot see the surface. Upon
complex paths among the constellations of the this mystery fantasies have been built for a
zodiac. century or more. Venus was depicted as a
Two of them never escape the Sun into the primordial planet of swamps and dinosaurs, or
night sky proper: Venus and Mercury. They fertile rain forests, or duned, wind-swept
shuttle back and forth between being evening deserts, according to various of these. It was
and morning stars: Venus wanders a little more seldom entirely hostile to life as we know it
than 45 degrees, or about three hours from the h o w e v e r , u n t i l r e c e n t times, when the
Sun at maximum. The evening before Mariner conjunction of advanced Earth-based
takes off for Venus, its target planet is visible as i n s t r u m e n t s and early spacecraft made it
a bright evening star; the ultimate target, difficult to believe that the surface temperature
Mercury, is much lower in the sky at sunset, could be much cooler than about 600-700°F,
and much less bright. at which, in our environment, paper will catch
During the course of the Mariner mission, fire and electronic solder melts.
Venus will swing across in front of the Sun to Venus was quite seriously believed to be a
become a morning star at maximum elongation young and primitive planet relative to Earth,
( a n g u l a r distance) a few days after the while Mars was old and worn out, until the mid-
spacecraft flies by Mercury for the first time. It to late 1960s, when comparative atmospheric
will not pass directly in front of the Sun, as studies, and other considerations, prompted
seen here — this rare transit last occurred some scientists to suggest that the reverse was
90 years ago and is not due again until 2004. true: Venus, taking in more solar energy and
The Mariner spacecraft itself goes through a maintaining a much higher temperature because
similar evolution in our skies, although it's of its "greenhouse" atmosphere, had lived up
"visible" only to sensitive t r a c k i n g its planetary existence quickly, while Mars,
antennas: immediately after launch it slips out distant and cold, was just beginning, and might
to the east of the Sun, and remains in the be continuing, planetary evolution. The latter
e v e n i n g s t a r or afternoon position until view was firmly established by the Mariner 9
mid-January, when it crosses over to the north; discovery of a single great rift valley and several
at Venus encounter the two bodies are about great volcanoes on the otherwise cratered (and
20 degrees ahead, or west, of the Sun in earthly therefore primordial) red planet.
skies. At the same time Mars was being mapped
From the target planet it would look from an orbiting spacecraft, however, another
completely different. Mariner comes sneaking technique was penetrating the clouds of Venus
up out of midnight, like an invisible meteor, to produce detailed radar views of its surface.
streaks across the evening sky toward day, Surprisingly, there were vast, shallow craters,
crosses in front of the Sun half-an-hour later, somewhat resembling those on the Moon and
and recedes into the noontime sky. most of Mars. It is generally agreed that these

17
scars of meteorite bombardment were made R a d a r a s t r o n o m y uses t h e same
billions of years ago, during the final stages of m e a s u r e m e n t s as deep-space
formation of the planet. tracking: frequency shift in a returned signal,
The Moon and Mars, changed little since that and the duration of the round trip. From the
time, still show these scars. But Venus? How latter we derive the distance from the radar site
could the ancient circular marks survive 3,000 to the object of interest; from the former, the
millennia of geological change and evolution, relative velocity. Because of the similarity, the
heat, and the formation and hurricane violence NASA/JPL Deep Space Tracking Station at
of an atmosphere 90 times as great as ours? Goldstone, California, has been one of the
Rather than wrestle with what seems an pioneer facilities in planetary radar astronomy,
unanswerable puzzle, let us see how this new and JPL's Richard Goldstein one of the
evidence came to us. It is part of a sophisticated principal investigators in this field.
long-lasting investigation which continues dur- Because of its spherical shape, various parts
ing Mariner's 1973-1974 mission. of a planet are at different ranges from the
The investigation of other planets by radar investigating a n t e n n a . Because of its
began a b o u t the same time as space motion — especially daily rotation — different
exploration; scientists in several countries were parts have different velocities relative to the
active in this field by the early 1960s. antenna. It became possible, then, though very
Following the initial observations of Venus and difficult, to sort out the returned radar signals
other planets, the experimenters measured according to the location of reflecting surfaces.
range and speed of the target planets. These At interplanetary distance it is impossible to
values helped to correct the ephemerides, or sort them by angle as is done visually: the
tables of position and motion of the planets. angles are too small.
Then with the development of more powerful The surface of Venus being inaccessible to
transmitters, larger and more precise antennas, any other kind of viewing, it received a large
more sensitive and nearly noise-free receivers share of radar probes. The period of rotation
and amplifiers, and more ingenious computer was determined, first from doppler velocity
techniques for analyzing the returned signals, measurements, then from the tracking of
the investigation broadened. recognizable surface features. It was

1972 radar closeup of Venus' surface, with earlier radar map

18
 surprising: 243 days long, in a direction suggest that the reflecting clouds may move up
opposite to that observed for Earth, Mars, and and down as much as a kilometer on the
the other planets. Astronomers observed that four-day cloud-rotation cycle.
cloud features visible in ultraviolet light rotated
in a period of four days. The Venus Parade

VENUS Because launch opportunities for missions to

Venus occur every 19 months, there have been
many attempts to fly spacecraft to or past this
Radius: 95% of Earth's
planet since 1960. Most of these (all the
Mass: 82% of Earth's successful missions) have been in the US
"Year": 61% of Earth's Mariner and USSR Venera programs.
Two of the three Mariners designed to fly
Solar
"day": 127 Earth days past Venus, examining radiation from the
planet and sensing fields and particles in its
Mean distance from Sun:
75% of Earth's vicinity during 1962 and 1967, achieved their
Surface
gravity: 91% of Earth's

Surface atmospheric pressure:

90 times Earth's

Surface temperature:
about 700 C

IV photos made 4% hr apart

At the same time as these developments,

o t h e r k i n d s of Earth-based observation
continued, and the United States and the Soviet
Union sent spacecraft to the planet Venus. A
gas spectrometer, placed at the focus of a
telescope, can indicate not only the presence
but the quantity of certain constituents of a
planet's atmosphere. The quantitative data are
d i f f i c u l t to interpret and are sometimes Manner 2, Venus, 1962
c o n t r o v e r s i a l a m o n g scientists, and the objectives. The Soviet Union has launched in
q u a l i t a t i v e s u r v e y is hampered by the every opportunity since that of early 1961,
contamination from Earth's atmosphere and apparently hitting the planet with Venera 3 in
the fact that some gases are not visible to such 1966, but the first Venera to return data from
i n s t r u m e n t s ; but Earth-based spectroscopy the planet arrived in October 1967 and the first
remains a valuable tool in planetary research. to operate a landing capsule on the surface,
That carbon dioxide was a constituent of Venera 7, was in December 1970. Venera
Venus' atmosphere was discovered years ago; it missions conducted a variety of experiments,
is the major constituent (over 90%) in fact. chief among them (on the entry probes) being
More recent observations have concentrated on direct chemical analysis of the atmosphere and,
the dynamics of the atmosphere above the in Fall 1972, a photometer which showed how
cloud layer. A series of infrared spectral much light actually reaches the surface.
investigations made at JPL's Table Mountain Experiments in the Mariner projects and the
Observatory in the Fall of 1972 by Louise Gray earlier Venera atmospheric probes, confirmed
Y o u n g and associates discovered regular and extended to the surface by Venera 7,
fluctuations in the CO2 absorption which i n d i c a t e d a v e r y high surface

19
 completely darkens in the nine-week-long night;
the atmosphere is oppressive, hot, and choking.

Science at the Comer

N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g its i n t e r e s t to the
p l a n e t o l o g i s t s , Venus serves this Mariner
mission primarily as a way station to Mercury.
The spacecraft approaches the planet from the
night side, its cameras blocked by the sunshield
until a few minutes before the closest approach
at about 5000 km (3100 miles) altitude. An
infrared radiometer sweep across the planet,

Mariner 5, Venus, 1967

temperature — 475°C or about 900°F, from

Venera 7 — and a pressure of 90 atmospheres.
Composition of the atmosphere is estimated at
about 95% CO2, a few percent nitrogen, a trace
of oxygen and inert gases (not susceptible to
chemical reactions), and a small amount of
water vapor.
Mariner 5, which flew 10,150 kilometers
from the center of Venus or about 2500 miles
above the surface, sent its two-way S-band Mariner's long-distance thermometer
r a d i o s i g n a l ( a n d a one-way UHF/VHF
dual-frequency probe) through the atmosphere through the midnight meridian into the sunlit
as it was occulted from Earth behind the side, occupies the 20 minutes before closest
planet, detecting the ionosphere above both approach.
day and night sides, and reading atmospheric
pressure down to an altitude of about 30 T e l e v i s i o n surveys of the night side,
kilometers (19 miles). It was estimated that night-day terminator, and sunlit clouds, and
nearer the surface the radio beam would be m a t c h i n g UV spectral measurements are
bent into a circle around the planet by the returned to Earth in real time during the 15
lens-like atmosphere. This earlier Mariner also minutes or so before the spacecraft is occulted
searched for evidence of a planetary magnetic by Venus. Then, while pictures and other data
field and trapped radiation belts, flew through are recorded for subsequent return, the radio
Venus' plasma shock wave, and detected the switches to a low-data, high-power mode, and
p l a n e t ' s a t o m i c hydrogen corona and a the a n t e n n a t r a c k s through a carefully
n i g h t - s i d e a i r g l o w w i t h i t s ultraviolet calculated series of angles designed to keep the
photometer. S-band and X-band link with Earth working as
Gathering the rapidly growing results of long as possible through the period (less than
observations from Earth, spacecraft missions, half-an-hour) that Earth is out of sight. The
and comparison with other planets, astronomer refracted beam can thus be followed much
Carl Sagan suggests that Venus resembles further, and the properties of the atmosphere
legendary hell. Sunlight is reduced to a diffused studied longer and to lower altitude than if the
and p e r v a d i n g reddish glow which never antenna were fixed to the line of sight.

20
 simultaneously at lower rates. This will
continue for 22 hours, as UV scans and
narrow-angle pictures with various filters rake
the glowing clouds, with wide-angle images of
large-scale features. Fields and particles
investigations of the region inside the orbit of
Venus will continue as well. Then the tape
recorder will play out to Earth all the
observations taken while Mariner was behind
the planet, a day earlier. Close-up pictures,
ultraviolet spectra, infrared temperatures, and
the record of magnetic field fluctuations,
charged-particle bombardment, and plasma flux
will pour out into the hands of the waiting
experimenters like a bushel of rubies.
Now the spacecraft has turned its path closer
TV frame coverage of Venus, 10-12 hr after closest
toward the Sun, slowing as it has plowed
approach, will make a multi-color "mosaic" of through a gravitational field almost as weighty
the planet as Earth's. It would have taken 40 times the
impulse carried by the spacecraft propulsion
While it's still hidden, the spacecraft flies out system to equal the change which now will send
through the front of the plasma shock wave the machine to Mercury. After the tape
created by the planet and its ionosphere. This playback (twice to be sure), the data rate is
will show a flurry of changes in the plasma, reduced down to 22,050 bits per second, and
c h a r g e d - p a r t i c l e , and magnetic-field Mariner is put to work recording batches of
instruments, which should settle down soon p i c t u r e s for r e d u c e d - r a t e playback and
after to the purely solar levels of activity as transmission. In the meantime radio tracking
seen earlier before Mariner flew into the plasma carefully gauges the effect of the gravity turn at
"wake" of Venus. Venus. Four days after encounter, a trajectory
By now the spacecraft is out from behind correction maneuver takes the main errors out
V e n u s , and can revert to the 117,600 of the path to Mercury. Then for two weeks, at
bit-per-second telemetry rate through which TV h o u r l y intervals, Mariner's camera records
pictures - three every two minutes - are sent pictures of Venus, charting the motion of the
directly to Earth. Engineering measurements ultraviolet cloud features, until the planet is out
and all o t h e r scientific data are sent of sight.

Artist's conception of Mariner Venus encounter (Sun at right)

TV PICTURES
AND ULTRAVIOLET
SPECTRAL SCANS
r— PLASMA
SHOCK

RADIO BEAM
FIRST TV INFRARED
TO AND FROM
PICTURES TEMPERATURE EARTH PROBES
SWEEP ATMOSPHERE
 5. DESTINATION MERCURY

From the last look at Venus to the first view Mercury may be changed at the last minute on
of Mercury is four weeks as the Mariner flies, the basis of what appears in the daily picture
although from the closest approach at one surveys taken and sent back to Earth in the
planet to the next is a flight of over seven preceding week.
weeks. Like the comet, some two months In the meantime, however, after Mariner has
earlier, the spacecraft speeds up as it drops in settled down on its final course to Mercury, the
closer towards the Sun. A week into this second f i e l d s and particles e x p e r i m e n t s and
i n t e r p l a n e t a r y cruise comes the last dual-frequency radio investigation step into the
course-correction maneuver. It's the last chance foreground again. Since the spacecraft and its
to trim the trajectory for a perfect Mercury instruments came out through the plasma shock
flyby, for after this point, for more than two wave near Venus, they have been immersed in a
months, Mariner will be too close to the Sun to purely solar sphere of influence. They are closer
t u r n out from behind its sunshade with to the Sun than Venus, and by February 19,
absolute safety. 1974, they pass the record of Mariner 5,
achieved when that mission was shut down in
After this maneuver, the spacecraft com-
November 1967. From here on the three
puter's memory at last has room for the
related investigations are breaking new ground.
complex programming which will govern the
22-day automated survey of the planet Mercury
from space. The week preceding, and two
weeks following the day of closest approach, Broiled World
resemble the last two weeks of Mariner's retreat
from Venus in that pictorial mosaics of the Mercury is a very difficult planet to observe,
moderately distant planet will be recorded not only because it is small and distant, but
periodically on tape for playback to the also — and very significantly — it is close to the
scientists waiting on Earth; these operations are Sun in our sky. Clouds do not block its surface
repetitive, and occupy relatively little attention from observation, like Venus, or even as much
in the c o m p u t e r instructions. It is the as Mars. But, like Venus, the closer Mercury is
operations of the few hours and even few to Earth (the closest possible is over 50 million
m i n u t e s which Mariner spends closest to miles) the more of its surface is shrouded in
M e r c u r y which call f o r c o m p l i c a t e d
instructions. The detailed pattern of what Below, Pic du Midi Observatory photo of Mercury,
with A. Dollfus' map of the planet
happens while the spacecraft is close to
MERCURY

Radius: 38% of Earth's

Mass: 6% of Earth's

"Year": 88 Earth days

"Day": 176 Barth days

Sidereal
Period: 59 Earth days

Distance
from Sun: 4(1% of Earth's

Surf ate
firayity- 39V. nt F*

Atmospheric
Pressure: Negligible

570
-260 F (night)
night. At the half-lit position, when the planet Partly because its year is short, Mercury lines
is relatively large, well-lit, and separated in up directly between Sun and Earth, and appears
angle from the Sun, Mercury is still only 18 to to transit across the Sun's disk more often than
25 degrees from the Sun — a twilight rather Venus. It transited in 1960 and 1970, does so
than an evening or morning star — and is almost again November 11, 1973, while Mariner is still
as far away as the Sun. Like the Moon, it looking at the Earth.
reflects only about 6% of the sunlight which
falls on it. M e r c u r y may or may not have an
Thus it is no wonder that our Earth-based atmosphere: the evidence is not definitive. The
maps of Mercury are so sketchy and indefinite. surface temperature varies from about 327°C at
Another mark of the difficulty of learning local noon to -123°C at local midnight. The
m u c h a b o u t M e r c u r y is that until the surface gravity, 40% of Earth's, is greater than
mid-1960s there was little doubt in that of Mars, which has an atmosphere, but
astronomers' minds that the planet kept the Mercury's smaller mass and the far higher
same face to the Sun, as the Moon does to temperature swing the odds against the inner
Earth. It is now known, on the basis of planet's being able to hold much atmosphere.
planetary radar information, that Mercury
rotates on its axis once in 58 days, while it goes The innermost planet receives the full blast
around the Sun in 88 days. These motions are of the Sun's radiation — from 4.7 to 10.5 times
harmonious (2:3), and result in a solar day as much as Earth, depending on where Mercury
about 176 days long — that is, once every two is in its eccentric orbit. It also receives a
of Mercury's years. Because the planet's orbit is correspondingly large share of the matter

188 days

MERCURY
0 days 88

60
30

44 days
Mercury's revolution and rotation Magnetometer and charged-particle telescope
eccentric, its speed around the orbit varies, so poured out from the Sun: the steady solar
that the Sun seems to pursue a crooked path wind, the torrential solar-flare streams. It may
across the sky. From some longitudes there is a be that Mercury catches a certain amount of
double dawn, in which the Sun rises, falls back, t h i s plasma and holds it as a transient
and rises again. Orbital eccentricity also means atmosphere, like a pool in a river, before it runs
that the distance to the Sun varies considerably, on or seeps away into space. Mercury is
in rhythm with the daily rotation. As a result, certainly a plasma collector, and its surface
certain longitudes receive twice as much heat at could reveal clues regarding the history of the
noon as do others, and the peak temperatures Sun, just as ancient sea bottoms chronicle, layer
vary accordingly. by layer, the biography of the Earth.

24
First Flyby storage battery, and the spacecraft orientation
will be maintained from gyro references in the
Mariner will approach Mercury almost on a absence of the Sun as a celestial lighthouse. The
tangent to the planet's orbit near its furthest fields and particles experiments will observe a
excursion from the Sun. Each day in the final direct cross section of Mercury's plasma wake, a
week it will acquire and play back a set of 36 survey never before undertaken at another
pictures (all the tape recorder will hold) in a planet. The infrared radiometer will obtain a
f u l l - c o l o r search for features of interest. temperature profile 300 degrees around the
U l t r a v i o l e t spectral scans will search for planet from afternoon longitudes through the
evidence of an atmosphere. In the next-to-last night side to a morning region. The occultation
day, wide television sweeps will be made in the UV spectrometer will scan the limb or edge of
hope of spotting tiny satellites of Mercury, the planetary disk as the Sun dips out of sight,
which is itself little larger than our Moon, and and again as it emerges, for indications of an
smaller than some outer-planet satellites. atmosphere. This mode of spectral analysis
The day of the close pass will begin with a detects gas absorptions from solar ultraviolet,
series of picture surveys, giving color coverage and can detect much smaller amounts of gas
at resolutions of 13 to 5 kilometers (8 to 3 t h a n the airglow instrument, which takes
miles). Five hours before closest approach, spectra before and after the night-side pass but,
real-time picture transmittal begins. Because of like the cameras, is blocked from viewing at this
the low data rate - higher than the "high" data angle. TV operations will be suspended.
rate of previous Mariners — the pictures are The scan platform will be swivelled to pick
only partially scanned, so that only one-fourth up Mercury as it reappears from behind

SLIT PLATE
GRATING ASSY
COLLIMATOR

Mercury TV "mosaic" Mercury occultation UV spectrometer

the width is covered. However, if signal Mariner's sunshade. By this time, however, the
conditions permit, the high rate may be used at spacecraft is in Earth occultation, and images
this time, permitting full-frame pictures. But are added to the other data being recorded for
the resolution improves, as the range shortens, later playback. When the spacecraft passes into
to a best figure (to be achieved in recorded Mercury's radio shadow as seen from Earth, and
pictures) as good as 100 meters (330 feet). again when it emerges some eleven minutes
The spacecraft will first fly into solar l a t e r , two-way dual-frequency radio
occultation — the shadow zone of Mercury. transmissions using the standard S-band and
During this period, of course, the electrical e x p e r i m e n t a l X - b a n d radios will gather
equipment will be powered by the spacecraft information on physical properties of Mercury's

25
 atmosphere and dimensions of the solid planet. 18 full frames and playing them back, as was
Once the Earth is in view again, real-time done during the approach. Then, 16 hours after
quarter-strip TV pictures will be transmitted. It the closest approach, the remainder of that
should be remembered that all these changes of period's recorded data come off the tape and
o p e r a t i n g mode are controlled by the back to the experimenters. For the next two
computer, acting on programming commands weeks, a daily routine of recording and playing
sent from Earth days before, and based on the back a set of 36 pictures will carry Mercury,
best tracking information available. Thus the like Venus before it, virtually out of sight.
spacecraft responds when Earth is supposed to Ultraviolet scans and the collecting of magnetic
come in view, not when communications are and plasma measurements will continue.
actually restored. Real-time TV operations will Thirteen days after the flyby, 1000 km (621
continue for five hours. Then half of the miles) above the night side of Mercury,
close-up pictures recorded before and during television operations will cease. The first
the occultation will be played back. Mercury encounter, and with it the formal
With half the tape recorder's capacity now two-planet Mariner mission of 1973-74, will be
free, the spacecraft can begin recording sets of over.

TELEVISION ULTRAVIOLET
PICTURES SPECTRAL SEARCH
FOR ATMOSPHERE

RADIO BEAM
FROM EARTH

SPACECRAFT
APPROACHIMG
EARTH
SHADOW
(RADIO)

SOLAR
INFRARED SHADOW
TEMPERATURE
SWEEP AROUND
PLANET

Artist's conception of Mariner Mercury encounter (Earth at left)

26
 >

6. RUNNING FREE

Just a few centuries ago, seafarers did a little applications, the surface of Mars, the space
of everything, fishing and fighting, map making environment of our planet. Yet a few purely
and missionary work, science and survival. In scientific opportunities still call for the multiple
the early days, space exploration had a similar investigation. Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973 is
multimedia quality to its scientific work: fields one of these.
and p a r t i c l e s , solar radiation, planetary Its first priority is the study of the planet
close-ups, and the testing of spacecraft devices M e r c u r y , w h i c h has never before been
against the spaceflight environment — all of investigated in this fashion. But the very nature
high interest, each confronting one or more of the mission brings the planet Venus and a
instruments in a protean mission. Then came new close view of the Sun before it, and
the age of specialization: the earlier mariner's flexibility in the equipment design plus the
ships became whalers, China Clippers, slavers, wide interests of the experimenters further
freighters, liners, tankers. Space exploration has broaden this Mariner's scientific view. It is an
specialized around the lunar landing, Earth evolution, not a turning away, from the

27
specialized efforts of the Mars Mariners. Most
of its devices derive closely from earlier
efforts: only the applications are new. And the
ideas of adaptation and recombination are as
old as science.

Round Trip

In 1970, Giuseppe Colombo of the Institute

de Meccanica Applicata alle Macchine of Padua, FIRST
MERCURY

Italy, suggested that Mariner's post-Mercury ENCOUNTER

orbit might be very nearly synchronous with

that of Mercury, and that a little adjustment
might bring about a second encounter some six
months — two Mercury years — after the first. Mariner post-Mercury orbit
This promising prospect, requiring accurate were repeated. It will be nearly the same time
guidance through Mercury's gravitational field, of "day" when Mariner returns to Mercury, but
and a d d i t i o n a l orbit-trimming maneuvers, even slight changes in the longitude of the
proved to be within reach of the mission design. long-shadowed terminator will bring new
The zone above Mercury through which the s u r f a c e f e a t u r e s into high-contrast view.
spacecraft must pass to be able to return to Whatever the geometry of the second pass,
Mercury overlaps the target zone desired by surface coverage would be expanded and
Mariner experimenters. Accuracy requirements improved.
of the second gravity turn maneuver are no This additional planetary flyby has not yet
more stringent than for the first one, at Venus. been formally authorized; it would entail more
And it is highly probable that enough fuel will than doubling the planned duration of flight
be left after Mariner gets to Mercury for the operations. It is enough, for awhile, to get
t h r e e e x t r a m a n e u v e r s before a r e t u r n Mariner to Mercury for the first time. Yet some
engagement. During the interval of 176 days, scientists whisper: if a second flyby is feasible,
E a r t h w o u l d move around so that the what about a third, or more?
interplanetary geometry is almost a mirror
image of March 29. The spacecraft is expected Relativity
to survive in orbit much longer than the eleven
months from launch to the second Mercury One final scientific quest in which Mariner
pass. The scientific data return, in solar and Venus/Mercury 1973 is involved is more broad
p l a n e t a r y information, would be greatly and fundamental than any of those for which
increased. instruments are installed on the spacecraft. It
The most important feature of the second has to do with the fabric of space itself, and
Mercury encounter for the scientific uses the whole Mariner mission as its sensing
experimenters would be the changed region of probe.
coverage. Where the first pass cuts through the A spacecraft's motion is mostly determined
solar plasma in the planet's wake, and views by gravitation. Planets and other visible bodies
both the evening and morning regions of the are tracked optically, mostly through the
surface in the equatorial zone, a second pass measurement of angles, but a spacecraft's
could either view one of the poles or fly by the position and motion are derived from ranging
sunlit part of the globe. A second factor - the and doppler measurements using a coherent
passage of six months - will have less effect. It two-way radio signal. These measurements are
might be possible, with time, to detect some very precise; in 1969 they led to the discovery
c h a n g e s on s u r f a c e features or in the of mass concentrations buried in the Moon,
atmosphere or plasma-sphere if the earlier pass beneath some of the lunar seas. Scientists hope

28
to use Mariner for similar studies of Mercury. side of the Sun from Earth its dual radio signal
Throughout the lunar and planetary program can retrace the earlier Mariner test.
such precise tracking has refined our knowledge Souvenirs
of the positions, motions, and masses of various Interplanetary and deep-space travel are so
planets in relation to each other and the Sun. difficult and expensive in energy that only the
Essentially this has been a dynamic mapping of most precious commodities can be brought
the solar and planetary gravitational fields. back. Certainly the most precious thing Earth's
In 1915 Albert Einstein "generalized" his civilization can import is information. Science,
theory of relativity - of the relations between the space program, and Mariner Venus/Mercury
space and time - to include gravity. He 1973 share this objective.
described this property of matter in terms of a The mission will have done its immediate job
distortion, or stretching, of space radially about when the information it gathers about Venus,
e v e r y mass. In this view, if space were Mercury, the Sun, and the space enclosing them
two-dimensional, it would be flat in the absence has been returned over the deep space
of gravitation but stretched down like a communications link. But for the scientists,
trumpet's mouth around, for instance, the Sun. that is only the beginning. Interpreting the
General relativity could be tested to some measurements, and building them into an
degree from its predictions. Mercury's orbit, understandable world picture, is a continuing
partly in the horn, should behave in a particular and ever-growing endeavor. As the Mariner
way; starlight coming close by the Sun — a n d inquiries about Venus and Mercury have been
visible during an eclipse - should be bent based on previous observations and concepts, so
toward it; radio waves traversing the distorted new questions will rise from the results of this
space should run a longer path than the Hight.
corresponding straight line. These predictions The study of our world's environment in the
have all been t e s t e d , the radio-ranging solar system and the study of different planets
experiment in a previous Mariner mission. In in comparison to our own are two important
the 1974 Mercury encounters, Mariner can help ways of learning about the Earth we inhabit.
refine the Mercury orbital test by measuring the Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973 is designed to add
Mercury-Earth distance to an accuracy of 15 a new world's worth of information to this
meters (50 feet); when it passes the opposite learning.

29
 Small Worlds in the Solar System Mercury Venus Earth Moon Mars

Radius: kilometers 2420 6050 6370 1740 3390

miles 1500 3760 3960 1080 2100

Distance from Sun: million km 59 108 150 150+ 228

million miles 37 67 93 93+ 142

Orbital period. Earth days 88 225 365% 29 687

Solar day. Earth days 176 127* 1 29 1

Atmosphere little if any thick, opaque clear/cloudy none thin

~ Qfl 1 go o 0 07
ac% PO« 79% No COo
N2, etc. 19% O2

in HO
75 km high, variable also CO2 frost
all over

Nature of Surface unknown Craters, unknown 75% water, Craters, Craters,

differentiated maria differentiated
land land
o
Surface temperature, F -260 to ~800 -30 to -245 -190 to +65
+ 560 + 115 to
+ 270

Surface gravity (Earth = 1) 39% 91% 1 17% 38%

*Cloud-deck rotation period: about four Earth days.

N 2 REACTION GAS (2 PLS)

TV CAMERA
CHARGED PARTICLE TELESCO

ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROMETER OCCULT

ATTITUDE CON
CENTRAL COM

MAGNETOMETERS
SOLAR PANEL
(ANTI-SUN SIDE)

MAGNETOMETER B

POWER REGULATION
PLASMA SCIENCE E EQUIPMENT

CANOPUS T R A C K E R

MOD/DEMOD SYS/
POWER CONVERSION EQUIP

TV AND SCIENCE ELECTRONICS

CABLE TRAY/BUNDLES
ARTICULATION AND POINTING
ELECTRONICS X-BANO
INFRARED RADIOMETER TRANSMITTER

PITCH JETS (2 PLS)

-^T\ ^^ PROPULSION
HIGH GAIN ANTENNA
V ROLL JETS (4 PLS) SUN SI

HEAT SHIELD/THRUST
I— ACQUISITION SUN SENSOR (2 PLS) VECTOR CONTROL ASSEMBLY

RADIO FREQUENCY S/S

Exploded view, Mariner Venus/Mercury spacecraft

NASA - JPL - Coml., L.A., C