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1993-04-21
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OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA. TELEPHONE 354-5011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1965
The Mariner IV spacecraft, which made the first close-up
photographs of Mars last July 14, took more television pictures
late yesterday--this time of black space--the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration reported today.
Project officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. said Mariner's TV camera took and recorded 10-1/2
pictures during a 12-minute period shortly after 5 p.m. Pacific
Daylight Time.
Five of the pictures of empty space are being transmit-
ted to Earth so that scientists will have calibration information
for comparison with the pictures of Mars. The comparison is
expected to help in determining whether the haze or fog that
appeared in some of the Mars pictures was indeed a planet feature
or a flaw in the instrument.
The calibration sequence bagan at 1:30 p.m. PDT yester-
day and included the transmission of eight commands to the space-
craft from the Goldstone Tracking Station in California.
The pictures were recorded on the first track of the
tape which stored the Mars pictures 48 days ago when Mariner IV
flew by the planet at an altitude of 6118 miles. Playback of the
black space picture data began about seven o'clock last night and
will continue through Wednesday night.
Mariner IV has flown 276 days since launch November 28,
1964. It is now more than 171 million miles from Earth, 11
-2-
million miles from Mars and has flown 381 million miles in its
orbit around the sun.
-0-
354 - 8/31/65