Word: planet
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...voyage of more than five months and 248 million miles, the first of a trio of terrestrial ships made its rendezvous with Mars late last week. Precisely on schedule, the 1,300-lb. U.S. Mariner 9 fired its retrorocket and went into a looping orbit around the red planet, swinging as close as 800 miles to the Martian surface. With that successful maneuver, controlled entirely by its onboard computer, the $76.8 million windmill-shaped robot became the first man-made satellite of another planet. As pictures of the dust-obscured Martian surface began reaching earth, delighted mission controllers...
Packed with ultraviolet and infrared sensors, Mariner will also keep a continual watch on the Martian surface and atmosphere. Thus, for the first time, scientists will be able to observe on a day-to-day basis the mysterious changes that occur on the Red Planet, including the strange seasonal wave of darkening that was once regarded by astronomers as a sign of earthlike vegetation. Equally important, more may be learned about the Martian physical features discovered by earlier Mariners: moonlike craters, the virtual lack of a magnetic field and the extremely low atmospheric pressure (only one one-hundred-fiftieth that...
...void. Now, as the target looms ever larger ahead of the ships, there is a growing air of anticipation in control rooms back on earth. For the three robot voyagers-one American, two Russian -should this week begin giving man his closest and most penetrating look yet at the planet Mars...
...fuel engine for a precise 15-minute "burn," reducing the ship's velocity from about 11,000 m.p.h. to just over 8,000 m.p.h. As it slows down, Mariner will be captured by Martian gravity, thereby becoming the first man-made object to go into orbit around another planet. The three previous U.S. Mars missions were designed to make their observations during the brief time that they were passing close to the planet on the way into perpetual orbit around...
...Soviets and the U.S. are already fully aware of one dramatic Martian occurrence. Since the end of September, astronomers have observed a dust storm on the planet. Spreading at the rate of 20 or 30 m.p.h., the yellowish cloud now obscures much of the planet's surface and is one of the most severe blowups ever witnessed through terrestrial telescopes. Some scientists are delighted with this rare chance of witnessing close up one of Mars' puzzling storms, which seem to occur when the planet moves closest to the sun and the Martian surface heats up. Others are equally...