Historical Photo of the Month - July 2006

Voyager (to Mars?)
Photograph Number 359-31Ac

In May 1962 NASA commissioned a study at JPL of possible missions to Mars, with a series of launches every two years in the late 1960s and 1970s. Once approved, the project was assigned to JPL and in 1964, mission planning began and design concepts were developed. The project was known as Voyager - not to be confused with the later Voyager which did a grand tour of the solar system. The February 1967 photo above shows a 1/20th scale model of the two spacecraft in tandem launch configuration. Both of them were to be launched on one Saturn V launch vehicle.

Each of the two spacecraft was to include an orbiter and lander. The orbiters would perform field and particle measurements in space between Earth and Mars, and while in orbit around Mars. The landers' surface laboratories would perform various scientific experiments on the surface of Mars. Planetary quarantine was a significant concern for Voyager, because of the experiments that would search for life on Mars. Dry heat sterilization would be used in hopes of preventing possible contamination of Mars by Earth organisms. The spacecraft was to be large, with an aeroshell nearly 15 feet in diameter, to allow for a significant and complex scientific payload.

The Voyager project was cancelled in 1967, but various concepts and features of the spacecraft were later used in Viking and other missions.

For more information about the history of JPL, contact the JPL Archives. Documentation for the Voyager Project can be found in the JPL Archives History Collection.

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