Mariner IV Still Working Well

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31247, 20 December 1966, Page 8

Mariner IV Still Working Well

A few weeks ago the second birthday of the spacecraft Mariner IV was quietly celebrated. After its historic encounter with Mars last year Mariner IV has continued in orbit around the sun, reporting back to earth three times a week. At present it is over 200 million miles away, on the far side of the solar system, and only the very largest and most sensitive tracking station at Goldstone, California, can hear its faint voice. During the next nine months the distance between Mariner IV and earth will shrink to under 30 million miles and smaller tracking antennaes will be able to pick up its signals—if it keeps transmitting. Already Mariner IV has remained in a fully operating condition for three times its designed life time.

Its stabilisation system has enough gas left to keep the spacecraft level for more than a year. Last September Mariner IV weathered a severe storm in space. An intense flare on the sun spewed high-energy atomic into space for more than a week. The particles caused a slight power loss from Mariner’s solar cells. However, the storm data gathered by Mariner, together with that from two Pioneer space probes in solar orbit, have given scientists their first record of a solar storm from several points simultaneously. Asl a result, it has been learned that the flare creates a shock wave which extends far out into interplanetary space and rotates with the sun. The full meaning of this astonishing discovery is not yet clear.