Mariner 1
Mariner 1, built to conduct the first American planetary flyby of Venus, was the first spacecraft of NASA's interplanetary Mariner program. Developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and originally planned to be a purpose-built probe launched summer 1962, Mariner 1's design was changed when the Centaur proved unavailable at that early date. Mariner 1, were then adapted from the lighter Ranger lunar spacecraft. Mariner 1 carried a suite of experiments to determine the temperature of Venus as well to measure magnetic fields and charged particles near the planet and in interplanetary space.
Mariner 1 was launched by an Atlas-Agena rocket from Cape Canaveral's Pad 12 on July 22, 1962. Shortly after liftoff, errors in communication between the rocket and its ground-based guidance systems caused the rocket to veer off course, and it had to be destroyed by range safety. The errors were traced to a mistake in a specification of the hand-written guidance equations which were then subsequently codified in the computer program.
Background
With the advent of the Cold War, the two then-superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, both initiated ambitious space programs with the intent of demonstrating military, technological, and political dominance. The Soviets launched the Sputnik 1, the first Earth orbiting satellite, on October 4, 1957. The Americans followed suit with Explorer 1 on February 1, 1958, by which point the Soviets had already launched the first orbiting animal, Laika in Sputnik 2. Earth's orbit having been reached, focus turned to being the first to the Moon. The Pioneer program of satellites consisted of three unsuccessful lunar attempts in 1958. In early 1959, the Soviet Luna 1 was the first probe to fly by the Moon, followed by Luna 2, the first artificial object to impact the Moon.With the Moon achieved, the superpowers turned their eyes to the planets. As the closest planet to Earth, Venus presented an appealing interplanetary spaceflight target. Every 19 months, Venus and the Earth reach relative positions in their orbits around the Sun such that a minimum of fuel is required to travel from one planet to the other via a Hohmann Transfer Orbit. These opportunities mark the best time to launch exploratory spacecraft, requiring the least fuel to make the trip.
The first such opportunity of the Space Race occurred in late 1957, before either superpower had the technology to take advantage of it. The second opportunity, around June 1959, lay just within the edge of technological feasibility, and U.S. Air Force contractor Space Technology Laboratory intended to take advantage of it. A plan drafted January 1959 involved two spacecraft evolved from the first Pioneer probes, one to be launched via Thor-Able rocket, the other via the yet-untested Atlas-Able. STL was unable to complete the probes before June, and the launch window was missed. The Thor-Able probe was repurposed as the deep space explorer Pioneer 5, which was launched March 11, 1960, and designed to maintain communications with Earth up to a distance of as it traveled toward the orbit of Venus. No American missions were sent during the early 1961 opportunity. The Soviet Union launched Venera 1 on February 12, 1961, and on May 19–20 became the first probe to fly by Venus; however, it had stopped transmitting on February 26.
For the summer 1962 launch opportunity, NASA contracted Jet Propulsion Laboratory in July 1960 to develop "Mariner A", a spacecraft to be launched using the yet undeveloped Atlas-Centaur. By August 1961, it had become clear that the Centaur would not be ready in time. JPL proposed to NASA that the mission might be accomplished with a lighter spacecraft using the less powerful but operational Atlas-Agena. A hybrid of Mariner A and JPL's Block 1 Ranger lunar explorer, already under development, was suggested. NASA accepted the proposal, and JPL began an 11-month crash program to develop "Mariner R". Mariner 1 was the first Mariner R to be launched.
Spacecraft
Three Mariner R spacecraft were built: two for launching and one to run tests, which was also to be used as a spare. Aside from its scientific capabilities, Mariner also had to transmit data back to Earth from a distance of more than, and to survive solar radiation twice as intense as that encountered in Earth orbit.Structure
All three of the Mariner R spacecraft, including Mariner 1, weighed within of the design weight of, of which was devoted to non-experimental systems: maneuvering systems, fuel, and communications equipment for receiving commands and transmitting data. Once fully deployed in space, with its two solar panel "wings" extended, Mariner R was in height and across. The main body of the craft was hexagonal with six separate cases of electronic and electromechanical equipment:- Two of the cases comprised the power system: switchgear that regulated and transmitted power from the 9800 solar cells to the rechargeable 1000 watt silver-zinc storage battery.
- Two more included the radio receiver, the three-watt transmitter, and control systems for Mariner's experiments.
- The fifth case held electronics for digitizing the analog data received by the experiments for transmission.
- The sixth case carried the three gyroscopes that determined Mariner's orientation in space. It also held the central computer and sequencer, the "brain" of the spacecraft that coordinated all of its activities pursuant to code in its memory banks and on a schedule maintained by an electronic clock tuned into equipment on Earth.
The primary high gain parabolic antenna was also mounted on the underside of Mariner and kept pointed toward the Earth. An omnidirectional antenna atop the spacecraft would broadcast at times that the spacecraft was rolling or tumbling out of its proper orientation, to maintain contact with Earth; as an unfocused antenna, its signal would be much weaker than the primary. Mariner also mounted small antennas on each of the wings to receive commands from ground stations.
Temperature control was both passive, involving insulated, and highly reflective components; and active, incorporating louvers to protect the case carrying the onboard computer. At the time the first Mariners were built, no test chamber existed to simulate the near-Venus solar environment, so the efficacy of these cooling techniques could not be tested until the live mission.
Scientific package
Background
At the time of the Mariner project's inception, few of Venus's characteristics were definitely known. Its opaque atmosphere precluded telescopic study of the ground. It was unknown whether there was water beneath the clouds, though a small amount of water vapor above them had been detected. The planet's rotation rate was uncertain, though JPL scientists had concluded through radar observation that Venus rotated very slowly compared to the Earth, advancing the long-standing hypothesis that the planet was tidally locked with respect to the Sun. No oxygen had been detected in Venus's atmosphere, suggesting that life as existed on Earth was not present. It had been determined that Venus's atmosphere contained at least 500 times as much carbon dioxide as the Earth's. These comparatively high levels suggested that the planet might be subject to a runaway greenhouse effect with surface temperatures as high as, but this had not yet been conclusively determined.The Mariner spacecraft would be able to verify this hypothesis by measuring the temperature of Venus close-up; at the same time, the spacecraft could determine if there was a significant disparity between night and daytime temperatures. An on-board magnetometer and suite of charged particle detectors could determine if Venus possessed an appreciable magnetic field and an analog to Earth's Van Allen Belts.
As the Mariner spacecraft would spend most of its journey to Venus in interplanetary space, the mission also offered an opportunity for long-term measurement of the solar wind of charged particles and to map the variations in the Sun's magnetosphere. The concentration of cosmic dust beyond the vicinity of Earth could be explored as well.
Experiments
Experiments for the measurement of Venus and interplanetary space included:- A crystal microphone for measurement of the density of cosmic dust, mounted on the central frame.
- A proton detector for counting low-energy protons in the solar wind, also mounted on the central frame.
- Two Geiger-Müller tubes and an ion chamber, for measuring high-energy charged particles in interplanetary space and in the Venusian equivalent of Earth's Van Allen Belts. These were mounted on Mariner's long axis to avoid the magnetic fields of the control equipment as well as secondary radiation caused by cosmic rays hitting the metal structure of the spacecraft.
- An Anton special-purpose GM tube, for measuring lower energy radiation, particularly near Venus, also mounted away from the central frame.
- A three-axis fluxgate magnetometer for measuring the Sun's and Venus's magnetic fields, also mounted away from the central frame.
- A microwave radiometer, a diameter, deep, parabolic antenna designed to scan Venus up and down at two microwave wavelengths, slowing down and reversing when it found a hot spot. The 19 mm wavelength was for measuring the temperature of the planet's surface while the 13.5mm wavelength measured the temperature of Venus's cloudtops. The instrument was mounted just above the central frame.
- Two infrared optical sensors for parallel measurement of the temperature of Venus, one at 8 to 9 microns, the other at 10-10.8 microns, also mounted above the central frame.