The Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of
identical spacecrafts, each with a
bus/orbiter module and an attached descent/lander module. The primary scientific
objectives of the Mars 2 orbiter were to image the martian surface and clouds, determine
the temperature on Mars, study the topography, composition and physical properties of the
surface, measure properties of the atmosphere, and monitor the solar wind and the
interplanetary and martian magnetic fields.