Sunday, December 15, 1996

Mariner 7

  1969-030A


NASA's Mariner G (Mariner VII) was JPL's M69-2 spacecraft. (M69-1 was a test model, M69-4 was a flight backup). Atlas 5402 was damaged during launch preps on 1969 Feb 14 and replaced by Atlas 5105. M69-3, originally intended for the mission, became Mariner 6 instead and M69-2, with a launch mass of 383 kg, was used for Mariner 7. Launch was at 2222:01 on 1969 Mar 27 from LC36 at Kennedy. Again, the Centaur made a single burn to enter solar orbit without entering Earth parking orbit first. A course correction at 2021(?) on Apr 8 put Mariner VII on course for its Mars encounter. Mariner flew past Mars at 0500:49 on 1969 Aug 5. This flyby was targeted to allow observations of the south polar cap. Mariner 7 was reported as still transmitting on 1970 May 25.


Mariner 7 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1969 Mar 27  2222:01  Launch by Atlas Centaur 
 2224:31  BECO 
 2224:34  Booster sep 
 2225:16  Insulation sep 
 2225:53  Fairing sep 
 2226:16  Atlas SECO 
 2226:18  Atlas sep 
 2226:27  Centaur MES1 
 2233:53  Centaur MECO  112 x Inf x 31.0  
 2235:28  Centaur sep 
1969 Mar 27  2239:22  Solar panels deployed 
 2248:04  Centaur venting 
1969 Apr 8  2022:09  TCM 8s 4.3m/s 
1969 May 8  1527E  Scan plaform unlatched 
1969 Jul 30  1407  Battery problems 
 2206  Loss of signal 
1969 Jul 31  0515  Reacquired 
1969 Aug 2  0906  Far encounter begins 
1969 Aug 3  1544  Centaur flyby Mars at 637019 km 
1969 Aug 4  0615  Enter Mars sphere 
1969 Aug 5  0219  Near encounter begins 
1969 Aug 5  0500:49  Mars flyby 3430 km 
1969 Aug 6  0345  Leave Mars sphere 
1969 Sep   UVS astronomy obs. 
1969 Nov 1   Begin extended mission 
1970 May 25   end of tx 

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