On Feb. 25, 1969, NASA launched the Mariner 6 probe to Mars. The spacecraft was to perform a close flyby of the planet and transmit the data it captured back to Earth.
Mariner 6 was equipped with instruments ranging from spectrometers to television cameras. These attachments were designed to assist with the search for life on the red planet and planning future missions. Totaling about 840 pounds, the probe was powered by four solar panels. Standing at 11 feet, all planned experiments were to be conducted upon arrival to Mars.
Mariner 6 captured 24 near-encounter photos of the planet from a height of 2,131 miles above the Martian surface during a 17-minute flyby. The television cameras autonomously captured a photo every 42 seconds. These images brought light to a cratered surface with dark features.
The other instruments on board discovered the atmosphere to be mostly carbon dioxide. It found that the surface pressure is equal to the pressure about 19 miles above Earth’s surface, as well as a surface temperature range from -193 to -99 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mariner 6 provided crucial information about the then-mysterious red planet. The spacecraft is still in space, orbiting the Sun like the rest of us. NASA stopped receiving data from it in 1971.
This information was gathered from nasa.gov.
