Mars '73: Learning from Mistakes
by Ted Stryk
The recent failure of NASA's Mars Surveyor '98 missions was a
painful blow to space exploration. However, it was not the first time
a major Mars mission composed of multiple spacecraft has ended in
disaster. It is instructive to look at another failure to learn from
its mistakes and look for parallels with the Mars '98 program.
The year was 1973. The Soviets were coming off their
disappointing Mars 2 and 3 missions two years earlier which had been
largely thwarted by a dust storm (the same dust storm which the
American orbiter Mariner 9 had to wait out before it could begin to
photograph Mars). The 1973 launch window was a particularly
unfavorable one, severely restricting the weight a rocket could send.
However, with America planning to launch its Viking missions in 1975
to land on the Red Planet, the Soviets could not wait. Consequently,
the orbiter/lander combinations they had intended to send were
separated into four launches. Two, Mars 4 and 5, were orbiters that
were to serve as radio relays for the landers, as well as conduct
extensive scientific investigations themselves. They carried numerous
instruments, including multiple spectrometers and cameras. The other
two, Mars 6 and 7, were to deploy landers from a bus that would merely
fly by the planet rather than enter orbit, greatly reducing the
spacecraft weight. The landers were also well-equipped, carrying
television cameras, experiments to measure the composition of the soil
and atmosphere, and instruments to measure temperature, wind speed,
and atmospheric pressure. The flyby bus also carried a few
instruments to study the planet.
It was during launch preparations that engineers made a
horrific discovery: the computer chips that had been integrated into
all four spacec…
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