Word: spacecrafts
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...robot craft were ranging far and wide across the solar system on missions of planetary exploration. NASA announced that Pioneer 11, already three-quarters of the way to Jupiter, will proceed to Saturn and provide the first close-up look at the ringed planet. From Mars, an orbiting Soviet spacecraft sent back new, detailed views of the Martian surface. At week's end, fresh from its reconnaissance of cloud-shrouded Venus, Mariner 10, now nearing Mercury, began transmitting its first pictures of the small planet that is closest...
...Soviets, too, had something to show from their massive, but generally disappointing assault on Mars. Last week they released pictures of Mars taken by one of the four spacecraft they launched toward the red planet late last summer. The shots compared favorably with the spectacular photos taken by Mariner 9 in 1972. But the other Soviet Mars probes did not fare so well. Another intended orbiter went shooting by the planet, apparently because of trouble with its braking rocket. A third ejected a landing capsule that missed the planet completely. Another lander, fired from the fourth spacecraft, entered the Martian...
More Secrets. Even as Mariner 10 approached Mercury (it was only 3.3 million miles away at week's end) U.S. scientists were examining the 3,500 pictures of Venus transmitted to earth by the spacecraft in February. Among other things, the computer-clarified photographs showed that 1) the thick Venusian clouds move 60 times as fast as the rotational velocity of the planet; 2) the Venusian poles are ringed by bright, most likely cooler regions; and 3) a huge "eye"-a break in the thick cloud cover -seems to have opened in the equatorial region, probably because of circulation...
Mariner 10 may uncover even more secrets. The 1,108-lb., bug-shaped spacecraft will make its closest approach to Mercury on March 29-when it will come within 620 miles of the surface. Before it leaves the vicinity of Mercury, it should produce 2,000 photographs of the planet's surface and a flood of other data...
Following Mercury's path around the sun, Mariner will again pass by its target next Sept. 22. If the spacecraft's systems are still working, it will send back even more information...