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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 2630.PDF
264 FLIGHT International. 14 August 1969 would be launched on November 12, 1981, and would arrive in the vicinity of Mars on August 2, 1982. The spacecraft would then be placed in orbit around the planet, from where three or four astronauts would be ferried to and from the planet by re-useable shuttle. On October 28, 1982, the space craft would be boosted out of its parking orbit and into a trajectory which would enable it to pass close to Venus on February 12, 1983, for a scientific examination. The gravi tational field of Venus would then accelerate the spacecraft into an Earth-intersection trajectory, arriving back at Earth on August 14, 1983. The crew would be recovered in aero dynamic vehicles. Dr Paine, who had discussed the project with Dr Wernher von Braun, said that the cost would be about the same as that for Apollo, i.e., about $24 thousand million. Meanwhile, Mariner 7 was preparing to come on-stage. There was considerable concern that the previous fault would seriously affect its performance, and two test pictures were taken on August 2. After the spacecraft had been recovered from its upset, it was found that 20 of the 92 telemetry channels (mainly concerned with engineering data) were return ing erroneous signals, but in the event the lack of these data caused no serious problems. The transmission and examination of the two test frames, which were, after all, found to be satisfactory, delayed the start of the Mariner 7 far-encounter sequence by 5hr. This sequence of pictures was made at distances down to 65,550 miles. While the pictures of the south pole of Mars were being received, the first "quick look" results from Mariner 6 were becoming available. These showed that, while water vapour was present in the atmosphere (confirming a result obtained by Earth-based telescopes earlier this year), nitrogen was absent, or at least present only in concentrations undetectable by the spacecraft instruments. This constituted a blow to the advocates of the "life on Mars" theory, since nitrogen is an essential ingredient in all living organisms. The pictures from Mariner 7 continued to flow back. Their quality was stated by JPL to be even better than those of its predecessor, mainly because of the better contrast. A scientist at JPL said that the pictures showed "fantastic detail.'" Thirty-two pictures were taken during near-encounter, and the closest approach to the planet was made at about 0600 BST on August 5. The picture-taking and science sequence followed in a chronological order similar to those of Mariner 6. The enthusiasm was unbounded as picture after picture unrolled at JPL to an entranced audience. JPL was swamped with incoming data and it is going to be a long time before all of it is processed and the results published, M.W. This high-resolution picture by Mariner 7 shows an area approximately 85 miles by 200 miles, at about 75°S latitude. The two adjoining craters are nearly circular, but are foreshortened by oblique viewing. Although the local Sun angle is only 8°, the lack, of contrast, due partly to "softening" by the tenuous atmosphere but mainly to erosion, is noteworthy
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