Sunday, July 18, 1999

Mariner 10

  1973-085A


The Mariner Venus Mercury 73 probe was built by Boeing for JPL. The probe was Mariner 73J or Mariner J, Mariner 10 after launch.

The launch took place at 0545 on 1973 Nov 3 by Atlas Centaur from Cape Kennedy. The Atlas separated at 0549 and the Centaur ignited for its first burn, entering parking orbit at 0555. It reignited at 0620 for a 132s burn, separating at 0625 and leaving Mariner 10 in solar orbit en route to Venus. The solar panels and antennae were deployed at this point. In the first few days, Mariner 10 tested its imaging system on the Moon. TCM-1 was a 20s burn made at 0042 on Nov 14, reducing Venus miss distance from 55000 km to 5000 km; the second course correction, TCM-2, was a 3s burn at 1914 on 1974 Jan 21. The probe made observations of comet Kohoutek in January.

The Venus near encounter phase was considered to begin at 1621 on 1974 Feb 5. Periapsis of 5793 km was at 1801 on Feb 5. The far encounter phase began at 1315 on Feb 6 and lasted until Feb 13. Trajectory Correction Maneuver 3 was a 51s burn on Mar 16, to refine the Mercury encounter. Mercury far encounter began on Mar 23, and the near encounter at 0435 on Mar 29. Perihermion was 740 km at 2046 on 1974 Mar 29. Near encounter concluded at 2336 on Mar 30, and far encounter on Apr 12. Mariner 10 had returned the first closeup images of the planet Mercury.

Mariner 10 now made course corrections to ensure the resulting orbit would repeatedly encounter Mercury. TCM-4A and 4B were 195s and 139s burns on May 9; TCM-5 was a 19s burn at 2009 on Jul 2. The Mercury 2 Encounter took place Sep 20-23 with a 48000 km closest approach at 2050 on 1974 Sep 21. TCM-6 was an 83s burn at 2152 on Oct 30, TCM-7 was a 12s burn at 2156 on 1975 Feb 13, and TCM-8 was a final 3s burn at 1855 on 1975 Mar 6 to ensure that Mariner did not hit Mercury. The Mar 16-17 Mercury 3 Encounter saw a 320 km flyby at 2239:24 on 1975 Mar 16. Mariner 10 sent its last transmission on 1975 Mar 24. About half the planet had been mapped by the three flybys.


Mariner 10 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1973 Nov 3  0545:00  Launch by Atlas Centaur 
  T+2:26 BECO 
  T+2:29 Booster jettison 
  T+3:11 Insulation panels sep 
  T+4:10 SECO/VECO 
 0549:12 T+4:12 Atlas sep 
 0549:22 T+4:22 Centaur MES-1 
 0551:34 T+6:34 Fairing 
 0554:30  T+9:30 Centaur MECO1  88.20 183 x 187 x 28.86 
 0619:30  T+34:30 Centaur MES2, 132s 
 0621:40  T+36:40 Centaur MECO2 
 0624:01  T+38:15 Centaur sep 11.38 km/s  189 x -56493 x 28.90 
 0628  Mag boom deploy 
 0629  Deploy solar panels 
 0631?  T+46:00? Centaur retro 
 0646  PSE boom deploy  
 1358?  Pass EL1:4 
1973 Nov 3  2145 Near Earth Cal phase imaging 
1973 Nov 4  0400?  Flyby Moon at 112000 km 
1973 Nov 5  1400  Leave Earth SOI  0.6 x 1.0 AU x 3 deg? 
1973 Nov 6   1.4Mkm 
1973 Nov 10?   Cruise phase 
1973 Nov 14  0041:50  TCM-1, 19.9s 7.78m/s 1.8 kg 
 0545  Earth distance 4.0Mkm 
1973 Nov 28  1700  Venus distance 77.4Mkm 
  Earth distance 8.8 Mkm 
  Helio vel 26.736 km/s 
1973 Dec 14  0000  Earth dist 14.0Mkm 
  Venus dist 54.3 Mkm 
1974 Jan 3   Earth dist 21Mkm 
  Venus dist 29Mkm 
  Helio vel 30.629 km/s 
1974 Jan 10   Earth 23.7 Mkm 
  Venus 20.9 Mkm 
  Vhel 31.764 km/s 
1974 Jan 17   Observations of Kohoutek 
1974 Jan 21  1914:38  TCM-2, 3.8s 1.37m/s 0.4 kg 
1974 Jan 23   Earth 31.7 Mkm 
  Venus 9.5 Mkm? 
  Vhel 34.191 km/s 
1974 Jan 28   RCS prop used during roll cal anomaly 
1974 Feb 1   Earth dist 41 Mkm 
  Venus dist 2.72Mkm 
1974 Feb 3  0800  RE=41.391Mkm etc 
1974 Feb 4   0.64Mkm to Venus 
  VHel pre enc is 37.015 km/s 
1974 Feb 5  1621  Venus near encounter 
 1701:50  Venus flyby, 5793 km periapsis 1.96RV 
1974 Feb 6  1315  Venus far encounter 
  VHel post enc is 32.276 km/s 
 1715  Venus range 0.72Mkm 
1974 Feb 7 1701  Venus range 1.43Mkm 
1974 Feb 13   End of encounter 
1974 Feb 19   RE 60.5? Mkm RM 66 Mkm 
1974 Mar 16  1154:42 TCM-3 51.1s 17.8m/s 3.9 kg 
1974 Mar 23   Mercury 1 far encounter 
1974 Mar 24   RM 4.3Mkm 
1974 Mar 28  2000?  0.9Mkm from Mercury 
1974 Mar 29  0030? 0.2Mkm 
1974 Mar 29   In Mercury sphere at 112000 km 
1974 Mar 29  0435  Mercury 1 near encounter 
 0730  Range 500000 km 
 1150  Range 335000 km  
 1435  Range 230000 km 
 1600  179100 km 
1974 Mar 29  2046:38  Mercury 1, 703 km 1.29RH 

1974 Mar 30  

0500  310000 km outbound 
 1200  575000 km  
 1430  1.1Mkm 
1974 Mar 30  2336  Mercury 1, end near encounter 
1974 Mar 31  1900  1.73 Mkm 
1974 Apr 1  1900  2.60 Mkm to Mercury 
1974 Apr 8   LGA to extended mission config 
1974 Apr 12   Mercury 1, end far encounter 
1974 May 9  2005:00 TCM-4A, 195s, 50m/s 
1974 May 10  2005:40  TCM-4B, 139s, 27.6m/s 
1974 Jun 7   RE 260M, RSun 108Mkm, Vhel 32 km/s 
1974 Jul 2  2009  TCM-5 19s, 3.32m/s 
1974 Sep 20   Mercury 2 encounter 
1974 Sep 21  1939  Range 76000 km 
1974 Sep 21  2059  Mercury 2, 47000 km at 40S 20.27RH 
1974 Sep 23   End encounter 
1974 Oct 30  2152  TCM-6 83s 
1975 Feb 13  2156  TCM-7 12s 
1975 Mar 6  1855  TCM-8, 3s avoidance 
1975 Mar 16   Mercury 3 encounter 
1975 Mar 16  2239:24  Mercury 3, 327 km 70N 1.13RH 
1975 Mar 17   End encounter 
1975 Mar 24   End of tx

Payload:

  • TV cameras, vidicon with 1.5m aperture, x2

  • Electrostatic analyser

  • Electron spectrometer

  • EUV spectrometer

  • Occultation spectrometer

  • IR radiometer, 8-14 mu, 34-55mu with 0.025m refracting telescopes.

  • X-band transmitter (Radio science)

  • S-band transmitter

  • Triaxial fluxgate magnetometer

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