launch date than was recommended by normal mission schedules, as reducing the length of available work time increased cost efficiency. Despite the rushed schedule, very few deadlines were missed. The mission ended up about US$1 million under budget. Attitude control is needed to keep a spacecraft's instruments and antennas aimed in the correct direction. During course correction maneuvers, the spacecraft may need to rotate so that its rocket engine faces the proper direction before being fired. Mariner 10 determined its attitude using two optical sensors, one pointed at the Sun, and the other at a bright star, usually Canopus; additionally, the probe's three gyroscopes provided a second option for calculating the attitude. Nitrogen gas thrusters were used to adjust Mariner 10s orientation along three axes. The spacecraft's electronics were intricate and complex: it contained over 32,000 pieces of circuitry, of which resistors, capacitors, diodes, microcircuits, and transistors were the most common devices. Commands for the instruments could be stored on Mariner 10s computer, but were limited to 512 words. The rest had to be broadcast by the Mission Sequence Working Group from Earth. Supplying the spacecraft components with power required modifying the electrical output of the solar panels. The power subsystem used two redundant sets of circuitry, each containing a booster regulator and an inverter, to convert the panels' DC output to AC and alter the voltage to the necessary level. The subsystem could store up to 20 ampere hours of electricity on a 39-volt nickel–cadmium battery. The flyby past Mercury posed major technical challenges for scientists to overcome. Due to Mercury's proximity to the Sun, Mariner 10 would have to endure 4.5 times more solar radiation than when it departed Earth; compared to previous Mariner missions, spacecraft parts needed extra shielding against the heat. Thermal blankets and a sunshade were installed on the main body. After evaluating different choices for the sunshade cloth material, mission planners chose beta cloth, a combination of aluminized Kapton and glass-fiber sheets treated with Teflon. However, solar shielding was unfeasible for some of Mariner 10s other components. Mariner 10s two solar panels needed to be kept under . Covering the panels would defeat their purpose of producing electricity. The solution was to add an adjustable tilt to the panels, so the angle at which they faced the sun could be changed. Engineers considered folding the panels toward each other, making a V-shape with the