Talk:Mariner 4

Cow on Mars?!
Hmmmmm... I don't think this is a picture of Mars... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.220.139.80 (talk • contribs) 22:31, 14 July 2005
 * OK, while I was typing this, the picture of a cow was replaced... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.220.139.80 (talk • contribs) 22:32, 14 July 2005

Source?
The following is listed in the entry "....shook the scientific community." Is there a source for this? Specifics concerning this aren't mentioned at all. Pgrote 20:26, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I rewrote the sentence a bit to make it more Wikipedia-ish. Van der Hoorn (talk) 22:53, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Where is it now?
Where is this probe now? Helocentric orbit or what? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.121.234.90 (talk • contribs) 03:15, 8 April 2006
 * I don't know exactly where, but it's in a exterior Heliocentric orbit. Most planetary probes are in heliocentric orbit initially, then have to adjust their trajectories to orbit or land. CFLeon 06:30, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Added it to the article. Van der Hoorn (talk) 14:55, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Intelligent life hopes
I'm a bit sceptical about the sentence: Images of craters and measurements of a thin atmosphere, indicating a relatively inactive planet exposed to the harshness of space, generally dissipated hopes of finding intelligent life on mars. Was there really any serious hope of finding 'intelligent' life on Mars just before the M4 probe? (As opposed to just the hope of finding 'complex' life such as plants and invertebrates). Ashmoo 01:08, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Also the ''shook the science community' from the intro seems more appropriate for a pop-science article rather than an encyclopedia. The data gathered from M4 was well within the range of expected outcomes wasn't it? Ashmoo 01:29, 14 July 2006 (UTC)


 * This article is lean on sources. I vote for removing '..shook the science community' unless there is something backing this statement up. Maybe the hopes-statement should be removed too. (Although I think this sentence may be true: it doesn't mention the scientific community and in the general poblic maybe many stil had hope before the M4 probe) Pukkie 09:48, 14 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Agreed. Unless there's some evidence that the scientific community, as opposed to the science fiction community - really expected there to be life on Mars at the the time, this is a statement that needs to be backed up with a citation or removed. And Mars needs to be capitalized in the life on mars line. --Don Sowell 23:02, 14 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Shows that the pictures of the same resolution from earth would not give any proof for intelegent life on earth.--Stone 12:23, 7 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Shows clearly that part of the science cmunity belived in life on mars, or even considered it being fact!--Stone 12:30, 7 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Added content based on before mentioned references. Van der Hoorn (talk) 11:58, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Recontact
The page doesn't really address the 1967 recontact, only mentions the final lost of contact. Can someone put up some info about this? CFLeon 06:33, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Midcourse correction accuracy
The article states the pitch/roll change was completed to "better than 1% accuracy". Shouldn't it read "better than 99% accuracy" or "better than 1% error" instead? Eridane (talk) 19:32, 29 January 2010 (UTC) I agree. The reference cited is a NASA document that includes the same error. Wikipedia's generally accepted policy is that we can't perform any original research, so we're left with having discerning readers figure this out on their own, or just read our comments!Raryel (talk) 15:48, 13 November 2011 (UTC)

Copy Edit Needed
The article needs a good copy edit. Should probably be a high prioity to-do. Schaffman (talk) 14:57, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Dead source links
Sources 2 and 3 are dead links and need to be fixed — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:8800:4300:713:7D88:3D1A:ACB2:56EE (talk) 17:37, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Maps showing the THREE bodies (Earth, Mars, Mariner 4) orbits AND RELATIVE DISTANCES at flyby time
The according data are lacking, as outlined in the frame on top of page ("This article contains orbital elements but does not include an epoch...").

The box on the right of the page (which I found no way to edit BTW) has a paragraph titled "Orbital parameters", which, despite the "Mariner 4" title of the page, recalls the MARS orbit. I suggest to make 3 paragraphs, "Earth orbital parameters", "Mars orbital parameters", and "Mariner 4 orbital parameters".

Even better if possible would be to add map(s) showing the 3 orbits, outlining the wide possible ranges for the distances between the 3 bodies involved.

Mars being, depending on Earth and Mars epochs, 130x to 1040x farther (from Earth) than the Moon, and the signal attenuation being accordingly from 17,000x to 1,080,000x bigger, data transmission between Earth and the spacecraft was a major problem in the Mariner 4 enterprise and exploit, in a proportion that potentially varies like from 1 to 60 in signal strength (I recall that the transmission of the 634KB of data took 19 days despite the use of an array of giant antennas spread over Earth continents). So this page really needs to show the distance Mariner 4 was from Earth at the moments of the flyby and of the main data transmission (from 15 jul 11:45 to 03 aug 1965).

Thanks a lot to the ones who would be able to add these precisions. Michel Merlin (talk) 15:51, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

Add: I wrote to NASA who gave me the results, which I added in the main page at the start of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_4#Mars_flyby section Michel Merlin (talk) 18:34, 10 August 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20020620141059/http://home.earthlink.net/~nbrass1/mariner/miv.htm to http://home.earthlink.net/~nbrass1/mariner/miv.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081230212629/http://home.earthlink.net/~nbrass1/mariner/miv-2.htm to http://home.earthlink.net/~nbrass1/mariner/miv-2.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060316104212/http://www.astrosurf.com/nunes/explor/explor_m4.htm to http://astrosurf.com/nunes/explor/explor_m4.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071005044108/http://www.strykfoto.org/mariner4.htm to http://www.strykfoto.org/mariner4.htm

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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090406234926/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/23aug_mariner4.htm to https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/23aug_mariner4.htm

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Epoch Data
Epoch data can be found at. I'm not sure what numbers should be added to the info-box in the epoch field. GrahamCracker325 (talk) 13:38, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

Value for "Distance travelled" is incorrect
In the data box in the upper right of the page is an item called "Distance travelled". The item itself shouldn't even be there since the spacecraft is in heliocentric orbit and the distance travelled is constantly changing. At the very least, the value given (2,000,000 km, or 1,200,000 mi) is way off. At the time of the flyby the craft was 216,000,000 km from Earth. Maybe someone just left of a couple of zeros. MikePhysics (talk) 16:38, 10 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Removed. Ruslik_ Zero 15:50, 11 May 2024 (UTC)