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Mariner crater on Mars, Mariner 4 image
Mariner crater on Mars, Mariner 4 image. The Mariner crater is seen at centre, containing two smaller craters (centre left). A ridge can be seen as a straight line running from bottom left through the crater at lower centre. This is part of Sirenum Fossae, a fault in the Martian surface. Mariner 4 was launched on 28 November 1964 and on 14 July 1965 it passed Mars at a distance of 9846 kilometres. It took 21 images, covering about 1% of the surface of Mars, revealing that Mars was heavily cratered and very dry. Mariner 4 also discovered that Mars had no radiation belts or magnetic field, indicating that the planet did not have a metallic core, and found that the carbon dioxide atmosphere was very thin. This image was taken at a distance of 12600 kilometres from Mars.
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