Friday, December 22, 2000

Mariner 2

  1962-041A


Mariner 2 was launched at 0653:14 on 1962 Aug 27 by Atlas Agena B from Cape Canaveral. The Atlas separated at 0658 and the Agena began its first 2.5 minute burn, entering Earth parking orbit at 0701. At 0717 the Agena re-ignited and separated at 0721 to insert Mariner II in solar orbit. At around 0722 the Agena made a small avoidance maneuver to ensure it would not hit Venus.

A course correction at 2249 on 1962 Sep 2 decreased the Venus miss distance from 370000 km to only 15000 km. Mariner II flew past Venus at 1952 on 1962 Dec 14, sending back measurements of its atmosphere in the first successful planetary flyby. Mariner II continued transmitting until 1963 Jan 2.


Mariner 2 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1962 Aug 27  0653:14  Launch  
  BECO 
  Booster sep 
  SECO 
 0658  Atlas sep 
 0658:53  Agena MES-1 
 0701:26  T+8:12 Agena MECO-1  187 x 187 x 32.7? 
 0717:43  T+24:29 Agena MES-2 
 0719:17  T+26:03 Agena MECO-2, 14.87S 2.1W 
 0721  Agena sep 
 0722  Agena avoidance burn 
1962 Sep 4  2249  TCM 83m/s 28s 
1962 Sep 5  0245  TCM complete 
1962 Sep 8   Temporary attitude loss 
1962 Dec 14  1952  Venus flyby 34773 km (ctr?) 
1962 Dec 27  0738Perihelion 0.705 AU 
1963 Jan 3  0615End of tx 

Payload:

  • Microwave radiometer

  • IR radiometer

  • Magnetometer

  • Cosmic ray particles detector

  • Solar plasma spectrometer

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