Mariner 2
Depiction of Mariner 2 in space
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| Mission type | Planetary flyby |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / JPL |
| Harvard designation | 1962 Alpha Rho 1 |
| SATCAT № | 374 |
| Mission duration | 4 months, 7 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type |
Mariner based on Ranger Block I |
| Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Launch mass | 202.8 kilograms (447 lb) |
| Power | 220 watts (at Venus encounter) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | August 27, 1962, 06:53:14 UTC |
| Rocket | Atlas LV-3 Agena-B |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-12 |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | January 3, 1963 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Heliocentric |
| Perihelion | 105,464,560 kilometers (56,946,310 nautical miles) |
| Epoch | December 27, 1962 |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | December 14, 1962 |
| Distance | 34,773 kilometers (18,776 nautical miles) |
Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the Block I spacecraft of the Ranger program and an exact copy of Mariner 1. The missions of Mariner 1 and 2 spacecraft are together sometimes known as the Mariner R missions. Original plans called for the probes to be launched on the Atlas-Centaur, but serious developmental problems with that vehicle forced a switch to the much smaller Agena B stage. As such, the design of the Mariner R vehicles was greatly simplified. Far less instrumentation was carried than on the Soviet Venera probes of this period, including no TV camera as the Atlas-Agena B had only half as much lift capacity as the Soviet 8K78 booster. The Mariner 2 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 27, 1962 and passed as close as 34,773 kilometers (21,607 mi) to Venus on December 14, 1962.
The Mariner probe consisted of a 100 cm (39.4 in) diameter hexagonal bus, to which solar panels, instrument booms, and antennas were attached. The scientific instruments on board the Mariner spacecraft were two radiometers (one each for the microwave and infrared portions of the spectrum), a micrometeorite sensor, a solar plasma sensor, a charged particle sensor, and a magnetometer. These instruments were designed to measure the temperature distribution on the surface of Venus, as well as making basic measurements of Venus' atmosphere.
The primary mission was to receive communications from the spacecraft in the vicinity of Venus and to perform radiometric temperature measurements of the planet. A second objective was to measure the interplanetary magnetic field and charged particle environment.
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