Mariner 5
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| Characteristics of the mission: | |
| Name | Mariner 5 |
| Nation | United States |
| Objective(s) | Measure interplanetary and Venusian magnetic fields, charged particles, plasmas, radio refractivity and UV emissions of the Venusian atmosphere |
| Craft | Mariner Venus '67 |
| Craft – Weight | 244.9 kg |
| Administration and planning of mission |
JPL - NASA |
| Launch vehicle | Atlas-Agena D |
| Date and time of launch |
14 June 1967 at 06:01:00 UTC |
| Launched from | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 12 |
| Scientific instruments/ Technology experiments |
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Mariner 5 was a spacecraft of the Mariner program that carried a complement of experiments to probe Venus' atmosphere by radio occultation, measure the hydrogen Lyman-alpha (hard ultraviolet) spectrum, and sample the solar particles and magnetic field fluctuations above the planet.
Mariner 5 was actually built as a backup to Mariner 4, but after the success of the Mariner 4 mission, it was modified (by reversing and reducing the size of the solar panels and adding a thermal shield) for the Venus mission.
It was launched toward Venus on June 14, 1967 and flew by the planet on October 19 that year at an altitude of 3990 kilometres (2480 miles). With more sensitive instruments than its predecessor Mariner 2, Mariner 5 was able to shed new light on the hot, cloud-covered planet and on conditions in interplanetary space.
Radio occultation data from Mariner-5 helped to understand the temperature and pressure data returned by the Venera-4 lander, which arrived at Venus shortly before it. After these missions, it was clear that Venus had a very hot surface and an atmosphere even more dense than expected.
The operations of Mariner 5 ended in November 1967 and it is now defunct in a heliocentric orbit.
[edit] External links
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| Previous mission: Mariner 4 | Next mission: Mariner 6 and 7 | |
| Mariner 1 | Mariner 2 | Mariner 3 | Mariner 4 | Mariner 5 | Mariner 6 and 7 | Mariner 8 | Mariner 9 | Mariner 10 | ||
| Flybys: Venera 1 · Mariner 2 · Zond 1 · Venera 2 · Mariner 5 · Mariner 10 · Venera 11 · Venera 12 · Galileo · Cassini-Huygens · MESSENGER | |
| Orbiters: Venera 9 · Venera 10 · Pioneer Venus Orbiter · Venera 15 · Venera 16 · Magellan probe · Venus Express | |
| Descent probes: Venera 3 · Venera 4 · Venera 5 · Venera 6 · Pioneer Venus Multiprobe | |
| Landers: Venera 7 · Venera 8 · Venera 9 · Venera 10 · Venera 11 · Venera 12 · Venera 13 · Venera 14 · Vega 1 · Vega 2 | |
| Balloon probes: Vega 1 · Vega 2 | |
| Future: PLANET-C · BepiColombo · Venera-D | |
| See also: Venus · Exploration of Venus | |
