(10 of 10)
Mars may, indeed, have seen better times. But Lowell did not reckon with man's great leap in technology, his relentless assault on his physical boundaries—the mighty rockets and the miniaturization, the electronic computers and the sophisticated guidance and tracking systems that proliferated after World War II. They are providing man for the first time with the capability to match his restless curiosity.
Still Sweating. Many eminent scientists believe that man will eventually find life on Mars, and New Zealand-born Dr. Pickering is among them. "I've always felt we'll find some form of life on Mars," says he, "and I look forward to the day when we're landing capsules there and searching for life." Space scientists have much to learn before they launch those exploratory capsules, but Pickering's Mariner has already taught them valuable lessons.
And that voyage is far from over. At week's end, JPL men were sweating out the glitches that might mar the final pictures, even while they made plans for gathering still more valuable information from their far-traveling craft. Past Mars now, its pictures taken and its programmed experiments over, the purple-winged ship is curving off into a perpetual orbit of the sun. By Oct. 1, Mariner will be 195 million miles away from Earth, its signals too weak to monitor. In September 1967, though, after a trip that will have taken it as far as 250 million miles away, it will be back within 30 million miles of Earth. It will be within radio range once more. Perhaps by then it will have even more to tell about the mysteries of space. For after learning so much about the planet Mars, Mariner IV will remain in space as a versatile man-made planet.