MARINER
MISSION TO VENUS
Prepared for the National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationBY THE STAFF, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute ofTechnology COMPILED BY HAROLD J. WHEELOCK FOREWORDBY W. H. PICKERING, Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CaliforniaInstitute of Technology
McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC.New York, San Francisco, Toronto, London
MARINER MISSION TO VENUS
Copyright © 1963 by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,California Institute of Technology. All Rights Reserved.Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-17489.
This book describes one phase of the U. S. civilianspace program—the journey of the Mariner spacecraftto the vicinity of Venus and beyond. It reports uponthe measurements taken during the “flyby” onDecember 14, 1962, when Mariner reached a point21,598 miles from the planet, and 36,000,000 milesfrom Earth (communication with the spacecraft wascontinued up to a distance of approximately 54,000,000miles from Earth). The Mariner mission was aproject of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,carried out under Contract No. NAS7-100 by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CaliforniaInstitute of Technology.
FOREWORD
For many centuries scientific information about the planets and thevast void that separates them has been collected by astronomers observingfrom the surface of the Earth. Now, with the flight of Mariner II, wesuddenly have in our hands some 90 million bits of experimental datameasured in the region between Earth and the planet Venus. Thus, manfor the first time has succeeded in sending his instruments far into thedepths of space, and indeed, in placing them near another planet. Awhole new area of experimental astronomy has been opened up.
This book is a brief record of the Mariner Project to date and is designedto explain in general terms the preliminary conclusions. Actually,it will be months or years before all of the data from Mariner II havebeen completely analyzed. The most important data were the measurementsmade in the vicinity of the planet Venus, but it should also benoted that many weeks of interplanetary environmental measurementshave given us new insight into some of the basic physical phenomena ofthe solar system. The trajectory data have provided new, more accuratemeasurements of the solar system. The engineering measurements of theperformance of the spacecraft will be of inestimable value in the designof future spacecraft. Thus, the Mariner II spacecraft to Venus not onlylooks at Venus but gives space scientists and engineers information helpfulin a wide variety of space ventures.
A project such as Mariner II is first a vast engineering task. Manythousands of man-hours are required to design the complex automaticequipment which must operate perfectly in the harsh environment ofspace. Every detail of the system must be studied and analyzed. Thevioperations required to carry out the mission must be understood and performedwith precision. A successful mission requires every member ofthe entire project team to do his task perfectly. Whether it be the erro