![]() Starved of electricity, the craft fell silent eight hours after blasting off. Mariner 3, designed to zip by Mars, failed to separate from its protective payload fairing after launch, which made it impossible to deploy its solar panels. Clarke once quipped that Mariner 1 “was wrecked by the most expensive hyphen in history.” Fortunately, Mariner 1’s sister ship, Mariner 2, was able to complete a successful flyby of Venus. In fact, noted science fiction author Arthur C. To this day, it remains unclear exactly what caused the problem for Mariner 1, but most accounts suggest that a minute error in its computer code led to the failure. However, Mariner 1, which was launched amidst great fanfare, experienced multiple failures of its guidance system and was intentionally destroyed just 300 seconds after launch. ![]() Then there’s NASA’s Mariner series of robotic space probes, which were designed to make the first reconnaissance passes by Mercury, Venus, and Mars.Īmazingly, seven out of 10 of these early interplanetary missions were successful, at least by some measure. Ultimately, the images they captured helped NASA plan the crewed Apollo lunar landings that would later come. These missions, which were intentionally slammed into the lunar surface, were designed to record and transmit images of the Moon right up until their moment of impact. The first six Ranger probes either experienced launch failures or malfunctioned during their trips to the Moon.Įngineers and scientists meticulously analyzed each of these failures, though, and the program ultimately succeeded with its final three Ranger probes. NASA’s Ranger series of robotic probes, flown in the early 1960s to obtain close-up images of the Moon, got off to a rough start. And robotic missions, in particular, offer prime opportunities to push the limits of what’s possible - without risking human lives. Yet, almost every scientist will tell you that they learn (almost) as much from their failures as they do from their successes. Still, not every NASA mission has gone as planned. The Apollo Moon landings, orbiting space stations, and interstellar spacecraft that are currently in the distant reaches of our solar system serve as some of humanity’s crowning scientific achievements. The space agency has a well-earned reputation built by decades of spectacular successes. This wouldn’t be the first bold NASA project to succeed, either. If successful, the audacious proof-of-concept test could ultimately lead to the widespread adoption of hovering rovers ( hovers?) that scientists can use to quickly scout other worlds. ![]() With a planned arrival at Mars in late February, 2021, the mission is equipped with the first rotorcraft ever sent to another planet: a helicopter known as Ingenuity. On July 30, 2020, NASA’s Perseverance rover blasted off for the Red Planet aboard an Atlas-V rocket.
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