Mars 2-6

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About the same time as Mariner 9, two Soviet probes arrived at Mars. These probes were Mars 2 and 3, but were not as sophisticated as Mariner 9. As a result, mission controllers were unable to shut these probes down in order to wait out the dust storm. Instead, the probes sent back useless images for the entire mission. The only useful data that it did send back was temperature information which showed that the temperatures on Mars ranged from -93°C (-199°F) to 13°C (55°F). Just like Mars 2 and 3, Mars 4, 6, and 7 were also failures. Mars 4 and 7 simply flew past Mars, while Mars 6 lost contact .3 seconds before it made a soft landing on the Martian surface.

Only Mars 5 was a moderate success, completing 20 orbits of Mars and sending back 50 images similar in quality to Mariner 9. Mars 5 also discovered another interesting fact: the Martian atmosphere contains argon, which suggests that the present atmosphere is simply the leftovers from an ancient, much larger atmosphere. This was yet another piece of evidence to show that Mars was once a very different place.

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