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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:
The mission of Mariner 9, the NASA spacecraft which
has been examining Mars closely for nearly a year, was con-
cluded today during its 698th orbit of the planet.
Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent a
command to the spacecraft at 11 a.m. to turn off Mariner's
radio transmitter.
Mariner's supply of attitude control gas was depleted
just a few minutes earlier while the spacecraft was maneuvering
for pointing its antenna toward Earth. It had been planned to
transmit 15 more pictures to JPL if the nitrogen gas supply was
sufficient.
Mariner 9 was launched May 30, 1971, and went into
orbit around Mars last November 13. It has transmitted to
Earth 7329 pictures of Mars and its moons and has acted upon
nearly 46,000 commands from the ground.
The mission, the most scientifically productive space
effort conducted by the United States, has produced a map of
the entire planet and has revealed Mars to be a dynamic evolv-
ing body rather than a geologiclly dead world.
-more- L
-2-
Mariner 9 had completed its basic 90-day mission last
February and has carried out an extended mission during the
past eight months.
The spacecraft will remain in Mars orbit for an est-
imated 50 to 100 years.
###
#633
10/27/72