Mars 6 | 3MP No.50P

Mars 6 Lander

     Mars 6 also known as 3MP No.50P was a Soviet Mars Spacecraft launched to explore Mars. A 3Mp bus spacecraft launched as a part Mars Programme, This Mission carried a Lander and a coast stage with instruments to study Mars. This spacecraft was built by Lavochkin, Mars 6 and Mars 7 were 3MP spacecrafts. Two orbiters Mars-4 and Mars-5 were launched earlier and were expected to relay data for these two Landers. However Mars 4 failed to enter orbit and Mars 5 failed after few days in Martian orbit.

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED:

• Thermometer - to measure surface temperature
• Barometer - to measure surface pressure
• Accelerometer
• Radio Altimeter -  for analyse the surface materials
• Mass Spectrometer
• Magnetometer
• Plasma Traps
• Cosmic Ray detectors
• Micro-meteoroid detectors - to study proton,electron and fluxes from the Sun

OPERATION:

      Mars 6 Lander separated from the flyby on a large amount of the data which had been returned was unusable. at an altitude of 48,000 kilometers from the Surface of Mars at 09:05:53 UTC. The lander encountered the atmosphere at a speed of 5.6 km per hour. As it passed through the upper atmosphere, the parachute deployed to further slow the descent lander and retrorockets fired during the last seconds before probe reaching the ground.

     The Spacecraft returned data for  3.7 minutes during its descent through the Martian atmosphere. But at 09:11:05 UTC with the spacecraft about to fire its retrorockets in preparation for landing,all contact was lost. The contact lost due to the design flaw. a chip aboard the spacecraft had degraded during the mission.

MISSION OUTCOMES:

• A large amount of the data which had been returned was unusable. 
• The Spacecraft failed, due to the contact lost upon landing.
• Atmospheric data were mostly unreadable
• Only the Flyby bus collected data