Why did Mars 3 go silent after 14.5 seconds?

The Soviet Mars 3 lander touched down intact on 2 December 1971, making the first survivable landing on Mars^[1]. It began sending a surface image minutes later, but the transmission stopped after 14.5 seconds, and contact was never regained^[2].

Why it stopped is uncertain. Amid a planet-wide dust storm, controllers suspected that coronal discharge, an electrical discharge, might have shorted the lander’s instruments. The book presents this as their explanation, not a proven cause^[3]. The image received was gray and featureless^[4].

Would you also like to know what Mars 3’s orbiter learned about the dust storm?PreguntaResposta completada. Hi ha una opció de seguiment disponible.