Mariner 4

  1964-077A

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Mariner C-3 (Mariner IV after launch) left pad 13 at Cape Kennedy at 1422:01 on 1964 Nov 28. Spacecraft mass was 261 kg including 10 kg of propellant. It entered Earth orbit at 1430 and the Agena D reignited to insert Mariner IV into solar orbit at 1504:28. The Agena separated at 1507:09. Mariner IV made one course correction, at 1609:11 on 1964 Dec 5, before its Mars flyby. Periapsis was at 0100:57 on 1965 Jul 15, and the encounter phase lasted from Jul 14 to Aug 3. Flyby distance was 9844 km. Mariner IV returned photos of the Martian surface revealing a cratered landscape not unlike the Moon. The mission was declared over on 1965 Oct 1, with Mariner IV in a 165.8 x 235.3 million km solar orbit. In an engineering test, a second course correction was carried out at 0603 on 1967 Oct 26, into a 165.6 x 233.5 million km orbit. Mariner IV exhausted its attitude control gas on 1967 Dec 7, and after a rush of 85 micrometeor hits on Dec 10-11 could no longer maintain reliable communications with Earth. The probe was decommissioned on 1967 Dec 20.

Mariner 4
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1964 Nov 28	1422:01	Launch by Atlas Agena D
	1424?	BECO
		Atlas MECO
		Fairing sep
	1427?	Atlas sep
		Agena MES1
	1430:38	Agena MECO, 32min coast	88.1 172 x 185 x 28.3
	1502:53	Agena MES2, 1:36
	1504:28	Agena MECO2
	1507:09	Agena sep	187 x -96015 x 28.13
		Agena retro
	1507:57	Solar orbit insertion, miss dist 242960 km
1964 Dec 5	1609:11	TCM
1965 Jul 14		Encounter phase
1965 Jul 15	0100:57	Mars flyby 9844 km C/A=13201 km
1965 Jul 15	0219:11	Mars occultation
	0313:04	Out of occultation
1965 Aug 3		End of encounter
1965 Oct 1		End of mission	165.8x 235.3 Mkm
1966 Mar 27		Superior conjunction, transmitter tests
1967 Jul 1		1.5M km from Earth
1967 Oct 26	0603:05	TCM-2 70s 62.1m/s	165.6 x 233.5 Mkm
1967 Oct		Cold gas leak
1967 Dec 7		End of ops

Payload:

• Magnetometer

• CR telescope

• Micrometeors

• Ion chamber

• Mars trapped radiation detectors, GM tubes

• Solar plasma probe

• TV camera