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Mariner 3 and 4 were identical spacecraft of the Mariner program designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars and obtain photographs of the planet's surface. Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 13, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly, and Mariner 3 did not get to Mars. Unable to collect the Sun's energy for power from its solar panels, the probe soon died when its batteries ran out and is now in solar orbit. Three weeks later, on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was launched successfully on an 7½-month voyage to the red planet.
Instruments:
- Television Camera
- Magnetometer
- Plasma Probe
- Cosmic Ray Telescope
- Trapped Radiation Detector
- Cosmic Ray Ionization[more information requested]
- Cosmic Dust[more information requested]
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Failed and cancelled missions to the planet Mars |
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| Failed at launch |
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| Failed en route |
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| Cancelled |
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