Mariner 3 Date: 11.05.1964 NASA approved two probes for the
Mariner-Mars 1964 project in November 1962.
The primary goal of the two spacecraft was to
photograph the Martian surface using a single
TV camera fixed on a scan platform that could
return up to twenty-one pictures after an
eight-month journey.
During the launch of
Mariner 3, the first of the two probes, the
booster payload shroud failed to separate from
the payload. Additionally, battery power mysteriously
dropped to zero (at T+8 hours 43
minutes), and the spacecraft's solar panels
apparently never unfurled to replenish the
power supply. As a result, ground control lost
contact with the spacecraft, which eventually
entered heliocentric orbit.
A later investigation
indicated that the shroud's inner fiberglass
layer had separated from the shroud's
outer skin, thus preventing jettisoning.
