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Mission record

Mars 1

Also known as 1962 Beta Nu 1, Sputnik 23, Mars 2MV-4, Mars1, 2MV-4 No.4

U.S.S.R · Launched

Explore trajectory

Lost · Partial success

A Soviet automatic interplanetary station launched with the intent of flying by Mars at a distance of about 11,000 km, designed to image the surface and return data on cosmic radiation, micrometeoroid impacts and Mars' magnetic field, radiation environment, atmospheric structure and possible organic compounds. NSSDCA records it as the first spacecraft to fly by Mars, although communications had been lost before it reached the planet: sixty-one radio transmissions returned a large amount of interplanetary data before contact ceased on 21 March 1963, and closest approach to Mars followed on 19 June 1963.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape Stage
Launch site
Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R
Countries
Soviet Union
Mission types
Flyby

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched towards Mars from Tyuratam

    NSSDCA's launch/orbital information page gives the launch date and time as 1962-11-01T16:14:16Z and an Earth parking orbit with a periapsis of 157.00 km, an apoapsis of 238.00 km and an inclination of 65.000°. After leaving Earth orbit, the spacecraft and the booster fourth stage separated and the solar panels were deployed.

    Earth

  2. Milestone

    Backup stabilization reported during November 6–7

    NASA's chronology reports spinning the vehicle around the axis perpendicular to the solar-panel plane during November 6–7 after an attitude-gas leak. The November 7entry marks the end of that reported interval, not an exact command time; no measured spin phase, rate or antenna direction is reconstructed.

    Earth

  3. Loss of contact

    Communications ceased on the way to Mars

    On 21 March 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106,760,000 km from Earth on its way to Mars communications ceased, probably due to failure of the spacecraft orientation system. Early telemetry had indicated a leak in one of the gas valves in the orientation system, after which the spacecraft was transferred to gyroscopic stabilization; sixty-one radio transmissions were held before contact was lost.

  4. Flyby

    Estimated Mars passage after loss of contact

    Mars 1 closest approach to Mars occurred on 19 June 1963 at a distance of approximately 193,000 km, after which the spacecraft entered a heliocentric orbit. NSSDCA's launch/orbital information page records the same encounter with a closest approach time of 1963-06-19 00:00:00 and a periapsis of 56.80 RA, where the same page defines 1 RA = 3,397 km. Recorded at day precision because both pages publish only the date, the trajectory page printing a midnight time rather than an observed one. The later NASA chronology instead gives 197000 km. Both accounts postdate radio loss, and neither supplies a measured time-tagged flyby vector.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Mars 1 · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

Known dates and encounters do not uniquely determine a flight path. This mission’s sourced timeline is available above; no verified trajectory is currently published here.

What is needed to reconstruct this path?
  • A frame-qualified position and vector velocity at an epoch, or equivalent complete orbital elements. The NSSDCA scalar orbit row omits node, perihelion direction and phase.
  • Approach/departure directions and burn vectors between the reported encounters; body names and encounter distances alone are insufficient.
  • Finer event-time constraints where required by an orbital reconstruction; the stored day/month/year precision is retained.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 14, 2026