Mars 1

Spacecraft n°:

Russian spacecraft n°: 45

Designation	00450 / 1962 B Nu 3 / 62061A
Launch date	01 Nov 1962 - 16:14:16 UT
Launch site	B, LC1
Launch vehicle	Molniya 8K78 (T103-16)
Satellite type	2MV-4 n°2 (Mars 1 PFC)
Mission	Mars flyby
Operator
Heliocentric orbit (Sun orbit):
Perihelion x Aphelion	0.924 x 1.604 A.U.
Eccentricity	0.269
Incl. to ecliptic	2.68°
Period (around the Sun)	519 days

Contact lost on 21 Mars 1963, passed 200000 km from Mars. Returned no data.

Mars probe intended to photograph Mars on a flyby trajectory. Sixty-one radio transmissions were held in which a large amount of data was collected. On March 21, 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106 million km communications ceased, possibly due to a malfunction in the spacecraft orientation system. Mars 1 closest approach to Mars occurred on June 19, 1963 at a distance of approximately 193,000 km, after which the spacecraft entered a heliocentric orbit. Announced mission: Prolonged exploration of outer space during flight to the planet Mars; establishment of inter-planetary radio communications; photgraphing of the planet Mars and subsquent radio-transmission to Earth of the photographs of the surface of Mars thus obtained.
Sputnik 23 : Perigee: 157 km. Apogee: 238 km. Inclination: 65.0 deg.

Ref.: #1, #7, #8, #11(1998) - #28(1966), #81, #102, #206 - update: 05.11.10