Mariner 10: first visit to Mercury and interplanetary gravity assist
Mariner 10: primera visita a Mercurio y asistencia gravitatoria interplanetaria
- Date
- 29 de marzo de 1974 · confidence high
- Place
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, United States
- Credited to
- JPL / NASA (Giuseppe Colombo, trajectory)
- Field
- Movement
What was discovered
It used Venus's gravity to reach Mercury and flew by it three times, mapping a little under half its surface. It discovered Mercury's magnetic field and its cratered, Moon-like appearance.
The Venus-assisted trajectory was proposed by the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Colombo, who also interpreted Mercury's 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, discovered by radar in 1965.
What it led to
- widespread adoption of gravity assist in planetary missions
- Mercury's 3:2 resonance, explained by Colombo, as the basis for repeated visits
- the MESSENGER and BepiColombo missions