Mars Snooper

Mars Snooper. Mars can be seen in the background as a reconnaissance craft prepares to land on the surface of red planet's moon, Deimos. Artwork from an advertisement for American Bosch Arma Corporation, 1959. Illustrated by Frank Tinsley.

"Steps in the race to outer space. This nuclear-fueled reconnaissance craft is preparing to land on Mars' outermost satellite, Deimos— 12,500 miles away from the "red planet" (center) and 35 million miles away from the Earth.

"Our spaceship is designed to fly in two directions—nose first as a space rocket and tail-first as a ramjet airplane. Propulsion for both is provided by a single atomic heat source, reacting with hydro- gen for rocket thrust, and with atmosphere to power the ramjets.

"As the ship approaches the Earth's atmosphere, it assumes a tail-first attitude. The 'petal doors' enclose the rocket nozzle, and the ship is trans- formed into a high speed, ramjet airplane with M-shaped wings. Control fins are located in the nose of the craft, near the crew's quarters."