In 1962, a spacecraft was launched by NASA to study Venus but a few moments later, the rocket went off course and was lost

Mariner 1 is the first US spacecraft to study Venus from up close. It was launched from Cape Canaveral on July 22, 1962, but the mission ended during launch. An Atlas guidance system malfunction plus an error in the guidance software caused the vehicle to veer off its Roll control and Pitch control. The Range Safety Officer sent a destruct command at 294.5 seconds after liftoff. After this, the error was fixed, and NASA launched the spacecraft again on August 27, 1962.

What was Mariner 1?

Mariner 1 was a NASA and Jet Propulsion Labratory spacecraft designed to flyby Venus. It was the first spacecraft in a two-spacecraft mission to study Venus from a distance.

• Mission: Venus flyby
• Country: United States
• Launch date: July 22, 1962
• Launch time: 09:21:23 UT
• Launch site: Cape Canaveral, Florida, Launch Complex 12
• Spacecraft: P-37 / Mariner R-1
• Mass: 447 pounds (202.8 kilograms)
• Power: Solar
• Launch vehicle: Atlas Agena B

Why did Mariner 1 fail?

The Atlas guidance system malfunction and software error caused the failure of Mariner 1. Investigators found that the Atlas guidance antenna on the launch vehicle had a problem, and there was also an error in the guidance software.

The error was an omission of an overbar from the symbol R (radius) in an equation in the program, causing the equations in the program to be invalid. The error was not a missing hyphen, although some reports have suggested that it was.

As the rocket veered off course, the Range Safety Officer sent a destruct command at T+294.5 seconds.

What was on board Mariner 1?

Mariner 1 was a relatively simple spacecraft that was made up of approximately 54,000 parts. It was designed to remain in contact with Earth for about 15 weeks.

The following are the list of instruments on board:

• Microwave radiometer
• Infrared radiometer
• Fluxgate magnetometer
• Cosmic dust detector
• Solar plasma spectrometer
• Energetic particle detectors
• Ionization chamber

The spacecraft did not have any cameras.

How did NASA continue the Venus mission?

After the failure of Mariner 1, NASA fixed the error and launched Mariner 2 again on August 27, 1962. Mariner 2 completed the first ever successful remote planetary encounter on December 14, 1962. It obtained scientific information on Venus and proved that NASA could continue the mission after the failure of Mariner 1.