What was the Mariner program?
The Mariner program was a NASA space program that ran from 1962 to 1973. It consisted of ten spacecraft designed for planetary exploration using nautical naming conventions.
The Mariner program was a NASA space program that ran from 1962 to 1973. It consisted of ten spacecraft designed for planetary exploration using nautical naming conventions.
The Mariner program began in May 1960 when Edgar M. Cortright suggested its name. The final launch occurred on the 3rd of November 1973 with Mariner 10, concluding operations by 1973.
The total cost of the Mariner program reached approximately $554 million across ten vehicles. Seven missions succeeded forming the starting point for many subsequent NASA and JPL space probe programs.
Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by another planet on the 14th of December 1962. It measured solar wind during its three-and-a-half-month journey to Venus.
JPL engineers proposed making the Mariners three-axis-stabilized instead of spinning probes. All Mariner spacecraft were based on a hexagonal or octagonal bus structure housing electronics and components.