Editing Voyager program (Mars)

{{Short description|Planned series of uncrewed NASA probes to the planet Mars}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2008}}
[[File:Mars Voyager concept.jpg|thumb|Advanced Voyager concept (1967)]]
[[File:Voyager-with-upper-stage.jpg|thumb|The upper Voyager moves away from the Saturn V S-IVB third stage that placed it on course for Mars.]]
The '''Voyager Mars Program''' was a planned series of uncrewed [[NASA]] probes to the [[planet]] [[Mars]].  The missions were planned, as part of the [[Apollo Applications Program]], between 1966 and 1968 and were scheduled for launch in 1974&ndash;75.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4212/contents.html|title=On Mars: Exploration of the Red Planet. 1958-1978|last=Ezell|first=Edward C.|date=1984|website=NASA History|access-date=19 April 2017}}</ref> The probes were conceived as precursors for a crewed Mars landing in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Portree |first1=David S. F. |title=The First Voyager (1967) |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/05/the-first-voyager-1967/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref>

Originally, NASA had proposed a direct lander using a variant of the [[Apollo Command Module]] launched atop of a [[Saturn IB]] rocket with a [[Centaur (rocket stage)|Centaur]] upper stage.  With the discovery by [[Mariner 4]] in 1965 that Mars had only a tenuous atmosphere, the mission was changed to have both an orbiter and lander.  This required the use of a [[Saturn V]] to launch two probes at once. The orbiter would have been a modified Mariner probe identical to that employed for [[Mariner 8]] and [[Mariner 9]], while the landers would have been [[Surveyor program|Surveyor]] moon probes modified with the use of aeroshells and a combination parachute/retrorocket landing systems.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Portree |first1=David S. F. |title=The Moon and Beyond: A 1963 Plan to Expand NASA's Robotic Exploration Programs |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/08/an-expanded-robotic-program-1963/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref>

Funding for the program, like that of the entire [[Apollo Applications Program|AAP]], was cut in 1968 and the mission itself was cancelled entirely in 1971, mainly on the grounds that launching both probes on a single rocket was both risky and expensive. Voyager was the first major space science project to be cancelled by the U.S. Congress.

Despite the cancellation, the planning and development of the Voyager Mars program was eventually carried out by NASA's [[Viking program]] in the mid-1970s. Cheaper and simpler than the Voyager Mars program (using the same Mariner 8/9 design for the orbiter, but with an automobile-sized lander with a very expensive microbiology lab), the [[Viking 1]] and [[Viking 2]] probes were launched to Mars on separate [[Titan IIIE]]/[[Centaur (rocket stage)|Centaur]] rockets in 1975 and reached Mars in 1976.

After the cancellation, the "Voyager" name was recycled for the [[Mariner 11]] and [[Mariner 12]] probes to the outer planets, with the latter probe, ''Voyager 2'' (Mariner 12), completing another ambitious post-Apollo project, the "[[Planetary Grand Tour|Grand Tour]]". The Saturn V had also been planned at one point as the launch vehicle for an upscaled probe for this mission.<ref>[http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/CortrightEM/EMC_8-20-98.pdf Cortright Oral History (p31)]</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of NASA cancellations]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161104141723/http://www.astronautix.com/v/voyager1973.html Voyager 1973 at Astronautix.com]
* NASA program documentation
** {{cite conference |last1=Fellows |first1=R. |title=Goals of the Voyager Program |date=1 August 1965 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19660022206 |language=en}}
** {{cite book |title=Voyager spacecraft. Volume III - Voyager program plan Study report, phase IA |date=30 July 1965 |publisher=TRW Systems Group |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19660011760 |language=en}}
** {{cite book |title=Voyager spacecraft. Volume II - 1971 Voyager spacecraft Study report, phase IA |date=30 July 1966 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19660011759 |language=en |publisher=TRW Systems Group}}
** {{cite book |title=Voyager spacecraft. Volume I - Summary Study report, phase IA |date=30 July 1965 |publisher=TRW Systems Group |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19660011758 |language=en}}
** {{cite book |title=Voyager design study. Volume IV - System design |date=15 October 1963 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19660004114 |language=en}}
** {{cite book |title=Voyager Design Study. Vol. I - Design Summary |date=15 October 1963 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19650022570 |language=en}}

{{Mars spacecraft}}
{{NASA planetary exploration programs}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}

[[Category:Missions to Mars]]
[[Category:NASA programs]]
[[Category:Cancelled spacecraft]]