60 years ago, the American probe Mariner 4 captured the first photos on the red planet. Images that have taken over ten hours before arriving on Earth. Back to a historic moment.
July 14, 1965 marked a turning point in the history of spatial exploration. That day, the NASA Mariner 4 probe sent the first close images of the planet Mars, culminating a mission launched seven months earlier.
In the meantime, a creative solution
After a 228 -day trip covering more than 523 million kilometers, Mariner 4 was preparing to reveal the mysteries of the red planet. However, data transmission was promised to be a major challenge. With a flow of only 8.33 bits per second, it took almost eight hours to receive a single image.
Impatience was palpable in the NASA Laboratory Propulsion Jet. Scientists, unable to wait for the digital reconstruction of images, found an ingenious solution. They printed the digital data transmitted by Mariner 4 line by line on paper, then colored them by hand with pastels.
This artisanal method made it possible to manually reconstruct the first image of Mars, in the form of a rudimentary mosaic, testimony to the greatness of expectations.
An unexpected revelation
The image that emerged was far from expectations. Instead of the Martian canals imagined by some, it revealed a desert and cellard surface. A discovery that upset the scientific theories of the time on the nature of the fourth planet of our solar system.
The 22 black and white photos captured by Mariner 4, covering approximately 1% of the Martian surface, paved the way for decades of exploration.
In 60 years, more and more precise images
Since then, more than twenty spacecrafts have studied Mars, its orbit or its surface. In the 2000s, images detected water. In 2012, the rover Curiosity Lands on Mars and delivers images of a habitable environment more than 3.5 billion years ago.
In 2021, the robot Perseverance capture of clichés even more detailed during its mission of researching signs of vie old and collection of rock samples for a possible return to earth.
>> Lire : The Perseverance robot collects the first Roche sample on Mars
After six decades of images and discoveries, the red planet continues to feed our fascination. The ambition always remains the same: to determine if life on Mars exists or not.
>> Find out more: Mars exploration missions (nasa.gov)
SUJET TV: Delphine Misteli
Article Web: Klara Soukup
