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 and experiments of the Mars 3 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 solar radiation, the solar wind and the interplanetary and martian magnetic
fields.