Mars 1M

The unproven third stage malfunctioned on both flights as cavitation in the fuel lines prevented the engines from developing adequate thrust, and, as a result, neither spacecraft achieved its initial geocentric parking orbit.

Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev had planned to bring models of the Mars probes for showcasing at his visit to the UN that month, but as both launches failed, they remained packed.

It carried a 10 kg science payload consisting of a magnetometer on a boom, cosmic ray counter, plasma-ion trap, a radiometer, a micrometeorite detector, and a spectroreflectometer to study the CH band, a possible indicator of life on Mars.

A photo-television camera was held in a sealed module in the spacecraft and could take pictures through a viewport when a sensor indicated the Sun-illuminated martian surface was in view.

A fourth stage was added to the booster, the Molniya (rocket) or 8K78, the new launcher was designated SL-6/A-2-e.[2] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.