It's been 50 years since the first spacecraft orbited Mars. It was November 13, 1971, after a 166-day flight the probe Mariner 9 of NASA entered orbit around the red planet, gathering important information and transforming our perception of Mars from a cold planet covered by craters to a world rich in past geological activity where once there was also water.
The years between 1957 and 1977 were characterized by a first wave of exploratory interest in space, becoming a new battlefield for the United States andUssr during the Cold War. The two superpowers therefore found themselves contending for political, military and obviously technological supremacy: a real conflict aimed at conquering the celestial vault. After the success of lunar mission in 1969, the Americans scored another point by putting a space station into orbit around the Martian planet.
But let's take a step back. What was Mariner? A spacecraft designed and developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) with the aim of exploring Earth's neighbors: Venus, Mercury and Mars. The Mariner program began in 1960 for a total of 10 missions, launched between 1962-1973. Each mission was supposed to have a "complementary" spacecraft, but this didn't always go to plan.
Mariner was not alone. There were three USSR probes designed with refined techniques and a truly ambitious work program, but only the American spacecraft succeeded. This is because the Soviet probes were much heavier, made up of an orbital module that had to rotate around the planet and a landing module that had to be released once it reached the right point in the orbit, allowing the collection of a series of data on the red planet . While the American probe had been programmed with a certain flexibility: it could be instructed in flight on what to do, in order to modify the programs when needed.
In this "spatial crowding", the first to leave was the Mariner 8, on May 8, 1971, followed two days later by its Soviet counterpart, known as Cosmos 419. However, for both probes, the program ended even before they left. The American probe ended up in the middle of the Atlantic a few minutes after launch due to a problem with the main engine, while the Soviet one fell back into the Earth's atmosphere, burning up.
Then it was the turn of the twin Soviet probes Mars 2 and Mars 3 respectively on 19 and 28 May. While Mariner 9 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 30, 1971. Despite the delayed departure, the American spacecraft was the first to reach the planet after flying in space for 166 days. The orbital insertion of Mars 2 and Mars 3 was completed on November 27 and December 2 respectively, managing however to send only a minimum number of usable images, while the NASA probe over 7 thousand.
However, when the spacecraft reached the planet, one of the largest global dust storms ever recorded on Mars darkened its surface. Virtually nothing could be seen, except the highest points. However, thanks to technological advances in Mariner 9's computer, ground control was able to delay the spacecraft's orbital insertion. The dust storm finally began to settle and the spacecraft was finally able to enter its orbit around the red planet and write history.
The Mariner 9 mission had the task of studying the Martian surface and atmosphere, but the result went beyond expectations: managing to map 85% of the Martian surface and to collect valuable information on the surface (topography, gravity) and the atmosphere (density, pressure and temperature). The space probe's cameras were the first to capture images of the largest volcano in the solar system at 25 km high, the vast Valles Marineris Canyon (ten times longer than the Grand Canyon and as deep as the Mariana Trench) and the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos.
Once the spacecraft had run out of altitude gas, it was shut down and left in orbit losing contact completely on October 27, 1972. It was estimated that it would remain in space for at least 50 years until it fell out of orbit and entered space. Martian atmosphere. All of this should happen in 2022.
The Mariner missions have helped us learn a little better about the red planet and revolutionize our perception of it, encouraging humanity's aspirations to one day get there.
