Prevention of damage to the science instruments of Mariner-Mars '71 spacecraft due to accidental viewing of the sun during sun-acquisition following exit from earth shadow.
It is pointed out that severe damage could result to the shutters of several science instruments if the sun were to appear in or sweep across the field of view at any time during the mission to Mars in 1971. The problem of accidental viewing of the sun following exit from the earth's shadow is probabilistic and rather difficult to resolve. The studies conducted show that typical probabilities of TV-A viewing the sun are on the order of 0.1%.