Mariner 4: first close-up images of Mars
Mariner 4: primeras imágenes cercanas de Marte
- Date
- 14-15 de julio de 1965 · confidence high
- Place
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, United States
- Credited to
- JPL / NASA
- Field
- Movement
What was discovered
It flew past Mars at about 9,800 km and transmitted 21 images of a cratered surface, with no canals or vegetation. It measured an atmosphere of under 1 % of Earth's surface pressure.
The Soviets had failed with Mars 1 (1962) and Zond 2 (1964).
What it led to
- end of the idea of a Mars with advanced life
- the Viking programme and the search for microbial life
- digital image transmission from deep space