By Maia :)

Mission Profile page 1  Mars 3 was launched towards Mars from a Tyazheliy Sputnik Earth orbiting platform. A mid-course correction was made on the 8 th of June. The correction was released on the 2 nd of December 1971, 4 hours and 35 minutes before reaching Mars. Through aerodynamic braking, parachutes, and retro-rockets, the lander achieved a soft landing and began operations.

Mission Profile page 2 However, after 20 seconds, the instruments stopped working for unknown reasons, maybe as a result of the giant dust storms raging at the time of landing. The orbiter had suffered from a partial loss of fuel and did not have enough to put itself into a planned 25 hour orbit. The engine instead performed a truncated burn to put the spacecraft into a long 12 day, 19 hour period orbit around Mars

Mission Profile page 3 The Mars 3 orbiter sent back a large amount of data covering the behavior from December 1971 to March It was announced that Mars 3 had completed their mission by 22 August 1972, after 20 orbits.

Mission profile page 4 The probe, combined with Mars 2, sent back 60 pictures in all. The images and data showed mountains as high as 14 miles. Hydrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere, surface temperatures from -166 F to 55 F, water vapor concentrations 5000 times less than in Earth's atmosphere, and grains from dust storms as high as 4 miles in the atmosphere. The probe, combined with Mars 2, sent back 60 pictures in all. The images and data showed mountains as high as 14 miles. Hydrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere, surface temperatures from -166 F to 55 F, water vapor concentrations 5000 times less than in Earth's atmosphere, and grains from dust storms as high as 4 miles in the atmosphere.