1.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
2.
Kilogram
–
The kilogram or kilogramme is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype of the Kilogram. The avoirdupois pound, used in both the imperial and US customary systems, is defined as exactly 0.45359237 kg, making one kilogram approximately equal to 2.2046 avoirdupois pounds. Other traditional units of weight and mass around the world are also defined in terms of the kilogram, the gram, 1/1000 of a kilogram, was provisionally defined in 1795 as the mass of one cubic centimeter of water at the melting point of ice. The final kilogram, manufactured as a prototype in 1799 and from which the IPK was derived in 1875, had an equal to the mass of 1 dm3 of water at its maximum density. The kilogram is the only SI base unit with an SI prefix as part of its name and it is also the only SI unit that is still directly defined by an artifact rather than a fundamental physical property that can be reproduced in different laboratories. Three other base units and 17 derived units in the SI system are defined relative to the kilogram, only 8 other units do not require the kilogram in their definition, temperature, time and frequency, length, and angle. At its 2011 meeting, the CGPM agreed in principle that the kilogram should be redefined in terms of the Planck constant, the decision was originally deferred until 2014, in 2014 it was deferred again until the next meeting. There are currently several different proposals for the redefinition, these are described in the Proposed Future Definitions section below, the International Prototype Kilogram is rarely used or handled. In the decree of 1795, the term gramme thus replaced gravet, the French spelling was adopted in the United Kingdom when the word was used for the first time in English in 1797, with the spelling kilogram being adopted in the United States. In the United Kingdom both spellings are used, with kilogram having become by far the more common, UK law regulating the units to be used when trading by weight or measure does not prevent the use of either spelling. In the 19th century the French word kilo, a shortening of kilogramme, was imported into the English language where it has used to mean both kilogram and kilometer. In 1935 this was adopted by the IEC as the Giorgi system, now known as MKS system. In 1948 the CGPM commissioned the CIPM to make recommendations for a practical system of units of measurement. This led to the launch of SI in 1960 and the subsequent publication of the SI Brochure, the kilogram is a unit of mass, a property which corresponds to the common perception of how heavy an object is. Mass is a property, that is, it is related to the tendency of an object at rest to remain at rest, or if in motion to remain in motion at a constant velocity. Accordingly, for astronauts in microgravity, no effort is required to hold objects off the cabin floor, they are weightless. However, since objects in microgravity still retain their mass and inertia, the ratio of the force of gravity on the two objects, measured by the scale, is equal to the ratio of their masses. On April 7,1795, the gram was decreed in France to be the weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of the metre
3.
Proton (rocket family)
–
Proton is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965, modern versions of the launch system are still in use as of 2016, making it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight. As with many Soviet rockets, the names of recurring payloads became associated with the Proton, the moniker Proton originates from a series of similarly named scientific satellites, which were among the rockets first payloads. During the Cold War, it was designated the D-1/D-1e or SL-12/SL-13 by Western intelligence agencies, Launch capacity to low Earth orbit is about 22.8 tonnes. Geostationary transfer capacity is about 6.3 tonnes, commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services. The rocket is intended to be retired before 2030, in January 2017, the Proton was temporarily grounded due to the manufacturer, Voronezh Mechanical Plant, having substituted a heat-resistant alloy in the engines with a cheaper metal. Proton initially started its life as a super heavy ICBM and it was designed to launch a 100-megaton thermonuclear weapon over a distance of 13,000 km. It was hugely oversized for an ICBM, and was never deployed in such a capacity and it was eventually used as a space launch vehicle. A rushed development program led to dozens of failures between 1965 and 1972, Proton did not complete its State Trials until 1977, at which point it was judged to have a higher than 90% reliability. Proton launched the unmanned Soviet circumlunar flights, and was intended to have launched the first Soviet circumlunar spaceflights, Proton launched the Salyut space stations, the Mir core segment and expansion modules, and both the Zarya and Zvezda modules of the ISS. Proton also launches commercial satellites, most of them being managed by International Launch Services, the first ILS Proton launch was on 9 April 1996 with the launch of the SES Astra 1F communications satellite. Since 1994, Proton has earned $4.3 billion for the Russian space industry, the 8K82K version is now usually called Proton K. It is fuelled by very toxic unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide and these are hypergolic fuels which ignite on contact, avoiding the need for an ignition system, and can be stored at ambient temperatures. This avoids the need for components that are tolerant of low temperatures, in contrast, cryogenic fuels need periodic replenishment as they boil off. The fourth stage has multiple variants, depending on the mission, the simplest, Blok D, was used for interplanetary missions. Blok D had no guidance module, depending on the probe to control flight, three different Blok DM versions were for high Earth orbits. The Blok D/DM were unusual in that the fuel was stored in a tank, around the engine. The initial Proton tests in 1965–66 only used the first two stages of the booster, the complete four-stage vehicle being flown for the first time in 1967
4.
Mars
–
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. Named after the Roman god of war, it is referred to as the Red Planet because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance. Mars is a planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth. The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and second-highest known mountain in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet, Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan, there are ongoing investigations assessing the past habitability potential of Mars, as well as the possibility of extant life. Future astrobiology missions are planned, including the Mars 2020 and ExoMars rovers, liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, which is about 6⁄1000 that of the Earths, except at the lowest elevations for short periods. The two polar ice caps appear to be largely of water. The volume of ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted. On November 22,2016, NASA reported finding a large amount of ice in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars. The volume of water detected has been estimated to be equivalent to the volume of water in Lake Superior, Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye, as can its reddish coloring. Its apparent magnitude reaches −2.91, which is surpassed only by Jupiter, Venus, the Moon, optical ground-based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 kilometers across when Earth and Mars are closest because of Earths atmosphere. Mars is approximately half the diameter of Earth with an area only slightly less than the total area of Earths dry land. Mars is less dense than Earth, having about 15% of Earths volume and 11% of Earths mass, the red-orange appearance of the Martian surface is caused by iron oxide, or rust. It can look like butterscotch, other common colors include golden, brown, tan. Like Earth, Mars has differentiated into a metallic core overlaid by less dense materials. Current models of its interior imply a core with a radius of about 1,794 ±65 kilometers, consisting primarily of iron and this iron sulfide core is thought to be twice as rich in lighter elements than Earths. The core is surrounded by a mantle that formed many of the tectonic and volcanic features on the planet
5.
Moons of Mars
–
The two moons of Mars are Phobos and Deimos. Both moons were discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall and are named after the characters Phobos and Deimos who, in Greek mythology, accompanied their father Ares, god of war, Ares was known as Mars to the Romans. It is possible that Mars may have moons smaller than 50–100 meters, of the two moons, Phobos orbits closer to Mars with a semi-major axis of 9,377 km. Deimos orbits Mars with an axis of 23,460 km.5 hours. The actual orbital distances of Phobos and Deimos are 1.4 and 3.5 Martian diameters, and their respective orbital periods are 7.6 and 30.3 hours. In the 20th century, V. G. Perminov, a designer of early Soviet Mars and Venus spacecraft, speculated Swift found. Furthermore, as they had not yet discovered, it was reasoned that they must be small. This would lead Swift to making an accurate estimate of their orbital distances. In addition Swift could have helped in his calculations by his friend. Voltaires 1752 short story Micromégas, about an alien visitor to Earth, Voltaire was presumably influenced by Swift. In recognition of these predictions, two craters on Deimos are named Swift and Voltaire. Asaph Hall discovered Deimos on 12 August 1877 at about 07,48 UTC and Phobos on 18 August 1877, at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, at the time, he was deliberately searching for Martian moons. Hall had previously seen what appeared to be a Martian moon on 10 August, I had barely time to secure an observation of its position when fog from the River stopped the work. This was at half past two oclock on the night of the 11th, cloudy weather intervened for several days. On 15 August the weather looking more promising, I slept at the Observatory, the sky cleared off with a thunderstorm at 11 oclock and the search was resumed. I told him also to keep quiet as I did not wish anything said until the matter was beyond doubt and he said nothing, but the thing was too good to keep and I let it out myself. On 17 August while waiting and watching for the outer moon, the observations of the 17th and 18th put beyond doubt the character of these objects and the discovery was publicly announced by Admiral Rodgers. The telescope used for the discovery was the 26-inch refractor then located at Foggy Bottom, in 1893 the lens was remounted and put in a new dome, where it remains into the 21st century
6.
Phobos (moon)
–
Phobos is the innermost and larger of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Deimos. Both moons were discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall, Phobos is a small, irregularly shaped object with a mean radius of 11 km, and is seven times larger than the outer moon, Deimos. Phobos is named after the Greek god Phobos, a son of Ares and Aphrodite, the name Phobos is pronounced /ˈfoʊbəs/ FOH-bəs or /ˈfoʊbɒs/ FOH-bos, or like the Greek Φόβος. Phobos orbits 6,000 km from the Martian surface, closer to its body than any other known planetary moon. It is indeed so close that it orbits Mars much faster than Mars rotates, and completes an orbit in just 7 hours and 39 minutes. As a result, from the surface of Mars it appears to rise in the west, move across the sky in 4 hours and 15 minutes or less, Phobos is one of the least reflective bodies in the Solar System, with an albedo of just 0.071. Surface temperatures range from about −4 °C on the side to −112 °C on the shadowed side. The defining surface feature is the impact crater, Stickney. Images and models indicate that Phobos may be a rubble pile held together by a thin crust, and that it is being torn apart by tidal interactions. Phobos gets closer to Mars by about 2 meters every one hundred years, Phobos was discovered by astronomer Asaph Hall on 18 August 1877, at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D. C. at about 09,14 Greenwich Mean Time. Hall had discovered Deimos, Mars other moon, a few days earlier on 12 August 1877 at about 07,48 UTC. The names, originally spelled Phobus and Deimus respectively, were suggested by Henry Madan, Science Master of Eton, based on Greek mythology, Phobos has dimensions of 27 ×22 ×18 km, and retains too little mass to be rounded under its own gravity. Phobos does not have a due to its low mass. It is one of the least reflective bodies in the Solar System, spectroscopically it appears to be similar to the D-type asteroids, and is apparently of composition similar to carbonaceous chondrite material. Phoboss density is too low to be rock, and it is known to have significant porosity. These results led to the suggestion that Phobos might contain a substantial reservoir of ice, spectral observations indicate that the surface regolith layer lacks hydration, but ice below the regolith is not ruled out. The most prominent of these is the crater, Stickney, an impact crater some 9 km in diameter. As with Mimass crater Herschel, the impact that created Stickney must have nearly shattered Phobos, many grooves and streaks also cover the oddly shaped surface
7.
Deimos (moon)
–
Deimos is the smaller and outer of the two natural satellites of the planet Mars, the other being Phobos. Deimos has a radius of 6.2 km and takes 30.3 hours to orbit Mars. The name Deimos is pronounced /ˈdaɪmɒs/ DY-mos, /deɪmɒs/, or sometimes /ˈdiːməs/ DEE-məs or like the Greek Δεῖμος, in Greek mythology, Deimos was the twin brother of Phobos and personified terror. Deimos is 23,460 km from Mars, much further than Marss other moon, Deimos was discovered by Asaph Hall, Sr. at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D. C on 12 August 1877, at about 07,48 UTC. Hall also discovered Phobos on 18 August 1877, at about 09,14 GMT and it is named after Deimos, a figure representing dread in Greek Mythology. The names, at first spelled Phobus and Deimus, were suggested by Henry Madan, Science Master of Eton, from Book XV of the Iliad, where Ares summons Dread and Fear. Deimos, like Marss other moon, Phobos, has spectra, albedos, like most bodies of its size, Deimos is highly non-spherical with triaxial dimensions of 15 ×12.2 ×11 km, making it 0.56 times the size of Phobos. Deimos is composed of rich in carbonaceous material, much like C-type asteroids. It is cratered, but the surface is smoother than that of Phobos. The regolith is highly porous and has a density of only 1.471 g/cm3. It has a velocity of 5.6 m/s and an apparent magnitude of 12.45. Only two geological features on Deimos have been given names, the craters Swift and Voltaire are named after writers who speculated on the existence of two Martian moons before Phobos and Deimos were discovered. DEIMOS Deimoss orbit is circular and is close to Marss equatorial plane. Deimos is possibly an asteroid that was perturbed by Jupiter into an orbit that allowed it to be captured by Mars, though this hypothesis is still controversial and disputed. At its brightest it would be about as bright as Venus is from Earth, with a small telescope, a Martian observer could see Deimoss phases, which take 1.2648 days to run their course. Unlike Phobos, which orbits so fast that it rises in the west and sets in the east, Deimos rises in the east. Because Deimoss orbit is close to Mars and has only a very small inclination to Marss equator. Deimos regularly passes in front of the Sun as seen from Mars and it is too small to cause a total eclipse, appearing only as a small black dot moving across the Sun
8.
Computer
–
A computer is a device that can be instructed to carry out an arbitrary set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. The ability of computers to follow a sequence of operations, called a program, such computers are used as control systems for a very wide variety of industrial and consumer devices. The Internet is run on computers and it millions of other computers. Since ancient times, simple manual devices like the abacus aided people in doing calculations, early in the Industrial Revolution, some mechanical devices were built to automate long tedious tasks, such as guiding patterns for looms. More sophisticated electrical machines did specialized analog calculations in the early 20th century, the first digital electronic calculating machines were developed during World War II. The speed, power, and versatility of computers has increased continuously and dramatically since then, conventionally, a modern computer consists of at least one processing element, typically a central processing unit, and some form of memory. The processing element carries out arithmetic and logical operations, and a sequencing, peripheral devices include input devices, output devices, and input/output devices that perform both functions. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source and this usage of the term referred to a person who carried out calculations or computations. The word continued with the same meaning until the middle of the 20th century, from the end of the 19th century the word began to take on its more familiar meaning, a machine that carries out computations. The Online Etymology Dictionary gives the first attested use of computer in the 1640s, one who calculates, the Online Etymology Dictionary states that the use of the term to mean calculating machine is from 1897. The Online Etymology Dictionary indicates that the use of the term. 1945 under this name, theoretical from 1937, as Turing machine, devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, mostly using one-to-one correspondence with fingers. The earliest counting device was probably a form of tally stick, later record keeping aids throughout the Fertile Crescent included calculi which represented counts of items, probably livestock or grains, sealed in hollow unbaked clay containers. The use of counting rods is one example, the abacus was initially used for arithmetic tasks. The Roman abacus was developed from used in Babylonia as early as 2400 BC. Since then, many forms of reckoning boards or tables have been invented. In a medieval European counting house, a checkered cloth would be placed on a table, the Antikythera mechanism is believed to be the earliest mechanical analog computer, according to Derek J. de Solla Price. It was designed to calculate astronomical positions and it was discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, and has been dated to circa 100 BC
9.
Paris Observatory
–
The Paris Observatory is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world. Its historic building is to be found on the Left Bank of the Seine in central Paris, administratively, it is a grand établissement of the French Ministry of National Education, with a status close to that of a public university. Its missions include, research in astronomy and astrophysics, education, diffusion of knowledge to the public and it maintains a solar observatory at Meudon and a radio astronomy observatory at Nançay. It was also the home to the International Time Bureau until its dissolution in 1987 and its foundation lies in the ambitions of Jean-Baptiste Colbert to extend Frances maritime power and international trade in the 17th century. Louis XIV promoted its construction, which was started in 1667 and it thus predates by a few years the Royal Greenwich Observatory in England, which was founded in 1675. The architect of the Paris Observatory was Claude Perrault whose brother, Charles, was secretary to Colbert, optical instruments were supplied by Giuseppe Campani. The buildings were extended in 1730,1810,1834,1850, the last extension incorporates the spectacular Meridian Room designed by Jean Prouvé. The worlds first national almanac, the Connaissance des temps, was published by the observatory in 1679, in 1863, the observatory published the first modern weather maps. In 1882, a 33 cm astrographic lens was constructed, an instrument that catalysed what proved to be the over-ambitious international Carte du Ciel project. The Meudon great refractor was a 83 cm aperture refractor, which with September 20,1909 observations by E. M. Antoniadi helped disprove the Mars canals theory and it was a double telescope completed in 1891, with secondary having 62 cm aperture lens for photography. It was one of the largest active telescopes in Europe, the title of Director of the Observatory was officially given for the first time to César-François Cassini de Thury by a Royal brevet dated November 12,1771. However, the important role played by his grandfather and father in this institution during its first century actually gives them somewhat the role of director, a coronograph was in operation there for ten years, the dome was moved there from the Perrault building of the Observatoire de Paris. Nowadays, the AstroQueyras amateur astronomy association operates the facility, using a 60 cm telescope on loan from the Observatoire de Haute Provence, numerous asteroids have been discovered there. Paris Observatory, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Deluxe CDROM edition Aubin, D, the fading star of the Paris Observatory in the nineteenth century, astronomers urban culture of circulation and observation. History of the Bureau International de lHeure, polar Motion, Historical and Scientific problems. Paris Observatory Paris Observatory History Location in Paris Publications of the Observatoire de Paris in Gallica, the digital library of the BnF
10.
CNES
–
The Centre national détudes spatiales is the French government space agency. Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and it operates from the Toulouse Space Center and Guiana Space Centre, but also has payloads launched from space centres operated by other countries. The president of CNES is Jean-Yves Le Gall, CNES is member of Institute of Space, its Applications and Technologies. CNES benefits from the second largest national budget allocated to space, CNES was established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961. CNES was responsible for the training of French astronauts, until the last active CNES astronauts transferred to the European Space Agency in 2001. As of January 2015, CNES is working with Germany and a few governments to start a modest research effort with the hope to propose a LOX/methane reusable launch vehicle by mid-2015. If built, flight testing would not start before approximately 2026. Hammaguir missile range built in Algeria,1963 Cats launched into space via Véronique rockets. 1965 First French satellite put in orbit,1969 French Guiana Space Centre completed. Commercial competition in space is fierce, so launch services must be tailored to space operators’ needs, the new versions of Ariane 5 can launch large satellites or perform dual launches while the Vega and Soyuz-2 are small and medium-lift launchers. CNES is taking part in the Galileo navigation programme alongside the European Union, in addition to Spot and the future Pleiades satellites, CNES is working for the defence community as prime contractor for the Helios satellites. France’s contribution to the International Space Station is giving French scientists the opportunity to perform experiments in microgravity. The CNES is studying formation flying, a technique whereby several satellites fly components of a much heavier, CNES is collaborating with other space agencies in a number of projects. Joint missions with NASA result in PARASOL and CALIPSO satellites, CNES plays a major role in the construction and operation of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite. In December 2006, CNES announced that it would publish its UFO archive online by late January or mid-February, most of the 6,000 reports have been filed by the public and airline professionals. Jacques Arnould, an official for the French Space Agency, said that the data had accumulated over a 30-year period and that they were often reported to the Gendarmerie. In the last two decades of the 20th century, France was the country whose government paid UFO investigators, employed by CNESs UFO section GEPAN, later known as SEPRA. On March 22,2007, CNES released its UFO files to the public through its website, the CNES has several tracking stations
11.
Mars 96
–
Mars 96 was a failed Mars mission launched in 1996 to investigate Mars by the Russian Space Forces and not directly related to the Soviet Mars probe program of the same name. After failure of the second burn, the probe assembly re-entered the Earths atmosphere, breaking up over a 200-mile long portion of the Pacific Ocean, Chile. The Mars 96 spacecraft was based on the Phobos probes launched to Mars in 1988 and they were of a new design at the time and both ultimately failed. It was, however, an ambitious mission and the heaviest interplanetary probe launched up to that time. The mission included an orbiter, surface stations and surface penetrators, the mission included a large complement of instruments provided by France, Germany, other European countries and the United States. Similar instruments have since flown on Mars Express, launched in 2003. Its project scientist was Alexander Zakharov, Mars 96 was intended to solve several problems concerning our understanding of Mars. The scientific goal of the mission was to analyze the planets history of its surface, atmosphere. Other studies during cruise, such as astrophysical studies were to be made and they can be broken down into several categories. Studies of the Martian surface were to include a topographical survey, mineralogical mapping, soil composition. Astrophysical studies were to place during interplanetary cruise. They included studies of cosmic gamma-bursts and the study of oscillations of the Sun, the Mars 96 orbiter was a 3-axis sun/star stabilized spacecraft which was based on the design of the Phobos orbiters. It had a high and medium gain antennae. Two large solar panels were attached to either side of the spacecraft and it also had a jettisonable propulsion unit to be separated sometime after Mars orbit insertion. Two Surface Stations were attached on top of the spacecraft, two Penetrators were attached to the propulsion unit. It also had a MORION system which was the interface, microprocessor. The orbiter had a mass, with fuel, of 6,180 kg. It had a dry mass of 3,159 kg, each Surface Station was contained in an aeroshell about 1 meter high and about 1 meter in diameter
12.
Fobos-Grunt
–
Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt was an attempted Russian sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. Fobos-Grunt also carried the Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 and the tiny Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment funded by the Planetary Society, efforts to reactivate the craft were unsuccessful, and it fell back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry on 15 January 2012, over the Pacific Ocean west of Chile. The return vehicle was to have returned to Earth in August 2014, funded by the Russian Federal Space Agency and developed by Lavochkin and the Russian Space Research Institute, Fobos-Grunt was the first Russian-led interplanetary mission since the failed Mars 96. The last successful interplanetary missions were the Soviet Vega 2 in 1985–1986, Fobos-Grunt was designed to become the first spacecraft to return a macroscopic sample from an extraterrestrial body since Luna 24 in 1976. The cost of the project was 1.5 billion rubles, project funding for the timeframe 2009–2012, including post-launch operations, was about 2.4 billion rubles. The total cost of the mission was to have been 5 billion rubles, Zakharov had described the Phobos sample return project as possibly the most difficult interplanetary one to date. The initial spacecraft design was to be similar to the probes of the Fobos program launched in the late 1980s, development of the spacecraft started in 2001 and the preliminary design was completed in 2004. For years, the project stalled as a result of low levels of financing of the Russian space program and this changed in the summer of 2005, when the new government plan for space activities in 2006–2015 was published. Fobos-Grunt was now one of the programs flagship missions. With substantially improved funding, the date was set for October 2009. The 2004 design was revised a couple of times and international partners were invited to join the project, in June 2006, NPO Lavochkin announced that it had begun manufacturing and testing the development version of the spacecrafts onboard equipment. Yinghuo-1 weighed 115 kg and would have released by the main spacecraft into a Mars orbit. NPO Lavochkin was the main contractor developing its components. The Chief Designer of Fobos-Grunt was Maksim Martynov, in late 2012, after a 10–11. 5-month cruise, Yinghuo-1 would have separated and entered an 800×80,000 km equatorial orbit with a period of three days. The spacecraft was expected to remain on Martian orbit for one year, Yinghuo-1 would have focused mainly on the study of the external environment of Mars. Space center researchers expected to use photographs and data to study the field of Mars. A second Chinese payload, the Soil Offloading and Preparation System, was integrated in the lander, SOPSYS was a microgravity grinding tool developed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The experiment would have tested one aspect of transpermia, the hypothesis that life could survive space travel, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences contributed with a radiation measurement experiment on Fobos-Grunt
13.
Roscosmos
–
The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, commonly known as Roscosmos, is the governmental body responsible for the space science program of Russia and general aerospace research. The Corporation was established on the basis of the now-defunct Federal Space Agency on December 28,2015, Roscosmos was previously known as the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. The headquarters of Roscosmos are located in Moscow, while the main Mission Control space center is located in the city of Korolev. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center is in Star City, the Launch facilities used are Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and Vostochny Cosmodrome being built in the Russian Far East in Amur Oblast. The current Director since January 2015 is Igor Komarov, in 2015 the Russian government merged Roscosmos with the United Rocket and Space Corporation, the re-nationalized Russian space industry, to create the Roscosmos State Corporation. The Soviet space program did not have central executive agencies, instead, its organizational architecture was multi-centered, it was the design bureaus and the council of designers that had the most say, not the political leadership. The creation of a central agency after the separation of Russia from the Soviet Union was therefore a new development, Russian Space Agency was formed on February 25,1992, by a decree of President Yeltsin. Yuri Koptev, who had worked with designing Mars landers at NPO Lavochkin. In the early years, the agency suffered from lack of authority as the design bureaus fought to protect their own spheres of operation. For example, the decision to keep Mir in operation beyond 1999 was not taken by the agency, instead, another example is that the decision to develop the new Angara rocket was rather a function of Khrunichevs ability to attract resources than a conscious long-term decision by the agency. The 1990s saw serious financial problems because of decreased cash flow and this resulted in Roscosmos leading role in commercial satellite launches and space tourism. In March 2004, director Yuri Koptev was replaced by Anatoly Perminov, the Russian economy boomed throughout 2005 from high prices for exports, such as oil and gas, the outlook for future funding in 2006 appeared more favorable. The budget for 2006 was as high as 25 billion rubles, under the current 10-year budget approved, the budget of the Space Agency shall increase 5–10% per year, providing the space agency with a constant influx of money. In addition to the budget, Roscosmos plans to have over 130 billion rubles flowing into its budget by other means, such as industry investments and it is around the time US-based The Planetary Society entered a partnership with Roscosmos. In 2011, the government spent 115 billion rubles in the space programs. The proposed project core budget for 2013 to be around 128.3 billion rubles, the budget for the whole space program is,169.8 billion rubles. By 2015, the amount of the budget can be increased to 199.2 billion rubles, priorities of the Russian space program include the new Angara rocket family and development of new communications, navigation and remote Earth sensing spacecraft. The GLONASS global navigation system has for many years been one of the top priorities and has been given its own budget line in the federal space budget
14.
Soviet space program
–
The Soviet space program comprised the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Soviet Union from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991. Sergey Korolev was the head of the design group, his official title was chief designer. Because of the programs classified status, and for value, announcements of the outcomes of missions were delayed until success was certain. Ultimately, as a result of Mikhail Gorbachevs policy of glasnost in the 1980s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine inherited the program. Russia created the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, now known as the Roscosmos State Corporation, on August 18,1933, GIRD launched the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket Gird-09, and on November 25,1933, the first hybrid-fueled rocket GIRD-X. In 1940-41 another advance in the reactive propulsion field took place, during the 1930s Soviet rocket technology was comparable to Germanys, but Joseph Stalins Great Purge severely damaged its progress. Many leading engineers were killed, and Korolev and others were imprisoned in the Gulag, under the direction of Dimitri Ustinov, Korolev and others inspected the drawings. Korolevs OKB-1 design bureau was dedicated to the liquid-fueled cryogenic rockets he had been experimenting with in the late 1930s, ultimately, this work resulted in the design of the R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missile which was successfully tested in August 1957. The Soviet space program was tied to the USSRs Five-Year Plans, nonetheless, the first Soviet rocket with animals aboard launched in July 1951, the two dogs were recovered alive after reaching 101 km in altitude. Two months ahead of Americas first such achievement, this and subsequent flights gave the Soviets valuable experience with space medicine, Plans were approved for Earth-orbiting satellites to gain knowledge of space, and four unmanned military reconnaissance satellites, Zenit. Further planned developments called for a manned Earth orbit flight by 1964, with closed-loop life support systems and electrical rocket engines, and launched from large orbiting space stations, these plans were much more ambitious than Americas goal of landing on the moon. The Soviet space program was secondary in military funding to the Strategic Rocket Forces ICBMs, missions were planned based on rocket availability or ad hoc reasons, rather than scientific purposes. Korolev planned to move forward with the Soyuz craft and N-1 heavy booster that would be the basis of a permanent manned space station and manned exploration of the Moon. Yangel had been Korolevs assistant but with the support of the military he was given his own bureau in 1954 to work primarily on the military space program. This had the rocket engine design team including the use of hypergolic fuels. He also continued to develop his own heavy booster designs similar to Korolevs N-1 both for applications and for cargo flights into space to build future space stations. Glushko was the rocket engine designer but he had a personal friction with Korolev. Chelomei benefited from the patronage of Khrushchev and in 1960 was given the job of developing a rocket to send a manned craft around the moon
15.
Molniya (satellite)
–
Molniya were military communications satellites used by the Soviet Union. The satellites were placed into highly elliptical orbits known as Molniya orbits, characterised by an inclination of +63.4 degrees. Such orbits allowed them to remain visible to sites in polar regions for extended periods, the Molniya program was authorized by a government decree in late 1960. The first launch took place on June 4,1964 and ended in failure when the 8K78 booster core stage lost thrust 287 seconds into launch due to a servo motor. The next attempt was on August 22 and reached orbit successfully, publicly referred to as Kosmos 41, it nonetheless operated for nine months. The first operational satellite, Molniya 1-01, was launched on April 23,1965. Since October 1967, Molniya satellites have used by Russia to broadcast their national Orbita television network. Molniya-1 spacecraft Molniya, A short history of development Molniya constellation Molniya 1-4
16.
Zenit (satellite)
–
Zenit was a series of military photoreconnaissance satellites launched by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1994. To conceal their nature, all flights were given the public Kosmos designation, over a 33 year period, over five hundred Zenits were flown making it the most numerous type of satellite in the history of spaceflight. The basic design of the Zenit satellites was similar to the Vostok manned spacecraft, sharing the return and it consisted of a spherical re-entry capsule 2.3 m in diameter with a mass of around 2400 kg. This capsule contained the system, its film, recovery beacons, parachutes. The total length in orbit was around 5 m and the mass was between 4600 kg and 4740 kg. Unlike the American Corona spacecraft, the capsule carried both the film and the cameras and kept them in a temperature controlled pressurised environment. This simplified the design and engineering of the system but added considerably to the mass of the satellite. An advantage was that cameras could be reused, early Zenits were launched using the Vostok rocket, later versions used the Voskhod and the Soyuz rockets. The first flights were launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome but subsequent launches also took place at Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Most Zenits flew in an elliptical orbit with a perigee of around 200 km. By 1958, the OKB-1 design bureau was simultaneously working on Object OD-1 and this may have been a political manoeuvre that would enable him to continue the manned space program and avoid diverting more of OKB-1’s resources into Object OD-1. Spacecraft 1K would be a prototype, 2K was to be a reconnaissance satellite. The name Vostok was also used for all three of these craft. But in 1961 the name became known as the name of Yuri Gagarins spacecraft so the Vostok 2 reconnaissance satellite was renamed Zenit 2. The first Zenit launch attempt took place on 11 December 1961, but there was a fault in the third stage. The second attempt — publicly referred to as Kosmos 4 — was successfully launched on 26 April 1962, however a failure in the orientation system meant few useful pictures were obtained, usable pictures had a resolution of about 5 to 7 meters. Launch #3 on June 1 failed dramatically when the one of the 8A92 boosters strap-ons shut down at liftoff and fell onto the pad, the rest of the launch vehicle crashed 300 meters away. This accident caused damage to LC-1, delaying the flights of Vostok 3
17.
Bion (satellite)
–
The Bion satellites, also named Biocosmos, were a series of Soviet biosatellites. They were part of the Kosmos satellites, the Soviet biosatellite program began in 1966 with Kosmos 110, and resumed in 1973 with Kosmos 605. Cooperation in space ventures between the Soviet Union and the United States was initiated in 1971, with the signing of the United States and Soviet Union in Science and Applications Agreement. The Soviet Union first offered to fly US experiments on a Kosmos biosatellite in 1974, the offer was realized in 1975 when the first joint U. S. /Soviet research were carried out on the Kosmos 782 mission. The Bion spacecraft were based on the Zenit and launches began in 1973 with primary emphasis on the problems of radiation effects on human beings, launches in the program included Kosmos 110,605,690,782, plus Nauka modules flown on Zenit-2M reconnaissance satellites. 90 kg of equipment could be contained in the external Nauka module, the Soviet/Russian Bion program provided U. S. investigators a platform for launching Fundamental Space Biology and biomedical experiments into space. The Bion program, which began in 1966, included a series of missions that flew biological experiments using primates, rodents, insects, cells, NASA became involved in the program in 1975 and participated in 9 of the 11 Bion missions. NASA ended its participation in the program with the Bion 11 mission launched in December 1996, the collaboration resulted in the flight of more than 100 U. S. experiments, one-half of all U. S. Life Sciences flight experiments accomplished with non-human subjects, the missions ranged from five days to around 22 days. In 2005 the Bion program was resumed with three new satellites of the modified Bion-M type – the first flight was launched April 19,2013 from Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. All the gerbils died due to a failure, but condition of the rest of the experiments. Half the mice died as was predicted, Zenit Satellites - Bion Variant Astronautix, Bion TsSKB, Bion images RW Ballard, and JP Connolly. Joint research in biology and medicine on Kosmos biosatellites
18.
GLONASS
–
GLONASS, or Global Navigation Satellite System, is a space-based satellite navigation system operating in the radionavigation-satellite service and used by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces. It provides an alternative to GPS and is the second alternative navigational system in operation with global coverage, smartphones generally tend to use the same chipsets and the versions used since 2015 receive GLONASS signals and positioning information along with GPS. Since 2012, GLONASS was the second most used positioning system in mobile phones after GPS, the system has the advantage that smartphone users receive a more accurate reception identifying location to within 2 meters. Development of GLONASS began in the Soviet Union in 1976, beginning on 12 October 1982, numerous rocket launches added satellites to the system until the constellation was completed in 1995. After a decline in capacity during the late 1990s, in 2001, under Vladimir Putins presidency, GLONASS is the most expensive program of the Russian Federal Space Agency, consuming a third of its budget in 2010. By 2010, GLONASS had achieved 100% coverage of Russias territory and in October 2011, the GLONASS satellites designs have undergone several upgrades, with the latest version being GLONASS-K. GLONASS is a satellite navigation system, providing real time position and velocity determination for military. The satellites are located in middle circular orbit at 19,100 kilometres altitude with a 64.8 degree inclination, GLONASS orbit makes it especially suited for usage in high latitudes, where getting a GPS signal can be problematic. The constellation operates in three planes, with eight evenly spaced satellites on each. A fully operational constellation with global coverage consists of 24 satellites, to get a position fix the receiver must be in the range of at least four satellites. GLONASS satellites transmit two types of signal, open standard-precision signal L1OF/L2OF, and obfuscated high-precision signal L1SF/L2SF, the signals use similar DSSS encoding and binary phase-shift keying modulation as in GPS signals.0 MHz, known as the L1 band. The center frequency is 1602 MHz + n ×0.5625 MHz, signals are transmitted in a 38° cone, using right-hand circular polarization, at an EIRP between 25 and 27 dBW. The L2 band signals use the same FDMA as the L1 band signals, but transmit straddling 1246 MHz with the center frequency 1246 MHz + n×0.4375 MHz, the pseudo-random code is generated with a 9-stage shift register operating with a period of 1 ms. The navigational message is modulated at 50 bits per second, the superframe of the open signal is 7500 bits long and consists of 5 frames of 30 seconds, taking 150 seconds to transmit the continuous message. Each frame is 1500 bits long and consists of 15 strings of 100 bits, with 85 bits for data and check-sum bits, and 15 bits for time mark. Strings 1-4 provide immediate data for the satellite, and are repeated every frame, the data include ephemeris, clock and frequency offsets. Strings 5-15 provide non-immediate data for each satellite in the constellation, with frames I-IV each describing five satellites, the almanac uses modified Keplerian parameters and is updated daily. The details of the signal have not been disclosed
19.
Meteor (satellite)
–
The Meteor spacecraft are weather observation satellites launched by the USSR and Russia. The Meteor satellite series was developed during the 1960s, the Meteor satellites were designed to monitor atmospheric and sea-surface temperatures, humidity, radiation, sea ice conditions, snow-cover, and clouds. Meteor 1-26 is considered to be the most likely candidate for a the 7 January 2016 satellite near collision, meteor-1 launches Meteor-2-21/Fizeau is the twenty-first and last in the Meteor-2 series of Russian meteorological satellites, which were launched 22 times from 1975 to 1993. ILRS Mission Support Status, Satellite Laser Ranging tracking support of satellite was discontinued in October 1998. What makes Meteor-2-21 distinctive from the other meteorological satellites is its unique retroreflector array, Fizeau is named after a French physicist, Armand Fizeau, who in 1851 conducted an experiment which tested for the aether convection coefficient. SLR tracking of this satellite was used for orbit determination. The Fizeau experiment tests the theory of special relativity – that distance events that are simultaneous for one observer will not be simultaneous for an observer in motion relative to the first. The central cube is made of fused silica and has a two-lobe Far Field Diffraction Pattern providing nearly equal intensities for compensated and uncompensated velocity aberration, both outer reflectors have aluminum coating on the reflecting surfaces and near-diffraction-limited FFDPs. One of the end reflectors is made of fused silica with an index of refraction of 1.46, the other end reflector is made of fused glass with an index of refraction of 1.62 and should provide a perfect compensation of the velocity aberration. SLR full-rate data from MOBLAS4, MOBLAS7, and Maidanak seem to confirm the presence of the influence of the Fizeau effect. Resur-1, another Russian satellite launched in 1994, has 2 corner cubes reflectors with near diffraction-limited FFDPs, WESTPAC, a future SLR satellite, will verify indisputably the existence or otherwise of the Fizeau effect. All the satellites were launched on Tsyklon-3 rockets and these satellites provide weather information including data on clouds, ice and snow cover, atmospheric radiation and humidity. The Meteor-3 class of satellites orbit in a higher altitude than the Meteor-2 class of satellites thus providing more coverage of the Earths surface. The Meteor-3 has the payload as the Meteor-2 but also includes an advanced scanning radiometer with better spectral and spatial resolution. Meteorological data is transmitted to four sites in the former Soviet Union in conjunction with about 80 other smaller sites. Meteor-3 launches Meteor-3-5, launched in 1991, is in a higher orbit than Meteor-2-21. Mechanically, it is similar to Meteor-2-21, which satellite was in operation depended on the sun angles and consequently the seasons. Meteor-3-5 was usually the summer satellite while 2-21 was in operation for approximately the half-year centered on winter, the satellite carried the second Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer aloft as the first and the last American-built instrument to fly on a Soviet spacecraft
20.
Granat
–
The International Astrophysical Observatory GRANAT, was a Soviet space observatory developed in collaboration with France, Denmark and Bulgaria. It was launched on 1 December 1989 aboard a Proton rocket and placed in a highly eccentric four-day orbit and it operated for almost nine years. In September 1994, after five years of directed observations, the gas supply for its attitude control was exhausted. Transmissions finally ceased on 27 November 1998, with seven different instruments on board, Granat was designed to observe the universe at energies ranging from X-ray to gamma ray. Its main instrument, SIGMA, was capable of imaging both hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray sources, the PHEBUS instrument was meant to study gamma-ray bursts and other transient X-Ray sources. Other experiments such as ART-P were intended to image X-Ray sources in the 35 to 100 keV range, one instrument, WATCH, was designed to monitor the sky continuously and alert the other instruments to new or interesting X-Ray sources. The ART-S spectrometer covered the X-ray energy range while the KONUS-B, Granat was a three-axis-stabilized spacecraft and the last of the Venera-class spacecraft produced by the Lavochkin Scientific Production Association. It was similar to the Astron observatory which was functional from 1983 to 1989, for this reason and it weighed 4.4 metric tons and carried almost 2.3 metric tons of international scientific instrumentation. Granat stood 6.5 m tall and had a span of 8.5 m across its solar arrays. The power made available to the instruments was approximately 400 W. The spacecraft was launched on 1 December 1989 aboard a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh SSR and it was placed in a highly eccentric 98-hour orbit with an initial apogee/perigee of 202,480 km/1,760 km respectively and an inclination of 51.9 degrees. Three days out of the orbit were devoted to observations. After over nine years in orbit, the observatory finally reentered the Earths atmosphere on May 25,1999, the hard X-ray and low-energy gamma-ray SIGMA telescope was a collaboration between CESR and CEA. It covered the energy range 35–1300 keV, with an area of 800 cm2. The maximum angular resolution was 15 arcmin, the energy resolution was 8% at 511 keV. Its imaging capabilities were derived from the association of a coded mask, the ART-P X-ray telescope was the responsibility of the IKI in Moscow. The instrument covered the energy range 4 to 60 keV for imaging and 4 to 100 keV for spectroscopy, there were four identical modules of the ART-P telescope, each consisting of a position sensitive multi-wire proportional counter together with a URA coded mask. Each module had an area of approximately 600 cm², producing a field of view of 1. 8° by 1. 8°
21.
RELIKT-1
–
RELIKT-1 - a Soviet cosmic microwave background anisotropy experiment on board the Prognoz 9 satellite gave upper limits on the large-scale anisotropy. A reanalysis of the data in the later years claimed a confident blackbody form, nevertheless, the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2006 was awarded to a team of American scientists, who announced the fact on April 23,1992 based on data taken by the COBE spacecraft. This experiment was prepared by the Space Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a map of the sky at 37 GHz was built using an 8 mm band Dicke-type modulation radiometer. The radiometer could not conduct multi-band astronomical observations, the entire sky was observed in 6 months. The angular resolution was 5.5 degrees, with a resolution of 0.6 mK. The galactic microwave flux was measured and the CMB dipole observed, a quadrupole moment was found between 17 and 95 microkelvins rms, with 90% confidence level. The heat radiation map of the Universe served as the emblem of the 1989 international conference The Cosmic Wave Background,25 Years Later in LAquila, Italy. The discovery of anisotropy by the RELIKT-1 spacecraft was first reported officially in January 1992 at the All-Moscow Astronomy Seminar held at Sternberg Astronomical Institute, as a follow-up to RELIKT-1, it was decided in 1986 to study the anisotropy of CMB as part of the Relikt-2 project. The sensitivity of the equipment had greatly increased, the spacecraft was scheduled to launch in 1993-1994, but the launch never took place because of the Soviet Unions break-up and lack of funding. Strukov, I. A. Skulachev, D. P. Deep-Space Measurements of the Microwave Background Anisotropy - First Results of the Relikt Experiment. 1984 Strukov, I. A. Brukhanov, A. A. Skulachev, D. P. Sazhin, M. V. Anisotropy of relic radiation in the RELICT-1 experiment, Physics Letters B, Volume 315, Issue 1-2, p. 198-202. 09/1993 The Relikt Experiment at NASAs LAMBDA
22.
Moon
–
The Moon is an astronomical body that orbits planet Earth, being Earths only permanent natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System, following Jupiters satellite Io, the Moon is second-densest satellite among those whose densities are known. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 384,400 km, the Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth. It is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earths sky, after the Sun and its surface is actually dark, although compared to the night sky it appears very bright, with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. Its prominence in the sky and its cycle of phases have made the Moon an important cultural influence since ancient times on language, calendars, art. The Moons gravitational influence produces the ocean tides, body tides, and this matching of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future. The Moons linear distance from Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.82 ±0.07 centimetres per year, since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the Moon has been visited only by uncrewed spacecraft. The usual English proper name for Earths natural satellite is the Moon, the noun moon is derived from moone, which developed from mone, which is derived from Old English mōna, which ultimately stems from Proto-Germanic *mǣnōn, like all Germanic language cognates. Occasionally, the name Luna is used, in literature, especially science fiction, Luna is used to distinguish it from other moons, while in poetry, the name has been used to denote personification of our moon. The principal modern English adjective pertaining to the Moon is lunar, a less common adjective is selenic, derived from the Ancient Greek Selene, from which is derived the prefix seleno-. Both the Greek Selene and the Roman goddess Diana were alternatively called Cynthia, the names Luna, Cynthia, and Selene are reflected in terminology for lunar orbits in words such as apolune, pericynthion, and selenocentric. The name Diana is connected to dies meaning day, several mechanisms have been proposed for the Moons formation 4.51 billion years ago, and some 60 million years after the origin of the Solar System. These hypotheses also cannot account for the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system. This hypothesis, although not perfect, perhaps best explains the evidence, eighteen months prior to an October 1984 conference on lunar origins, Bill Hartmann, Roger Phillips, and Jeff Taylor challenged fellow lunar scientists, You have eighteen months. Go back to your Apollo data, go back to computer, do whatever you have to. Dont come to our conference unless you have something to say about the Moons birth, at the 1984 conference at Kona, Hawaii, the giant impact hypothesis emerged as the most popular. Afterward there were only two groups, the giant impact camp and the agnostics. Giant impacts are thought to have been common in the early Solar System, computer simulations of a giant impact have produced results that are consistent with the mass of the lunar core and the present angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system
23.
Luna programme
–
The Luna programme, occasionally called Lunik or Lunnik by western media, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. Fifteen were successful, each designed as either an orbiter or lander and they also performed many experiments, studying the Moons chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Twenty-four spacecraft were formally given the Luna designation, although more were launched and those that failed to reach orbit were not publicly acknowledged at the time, and not assigned a Luna number. Those that failed in low Earth orbit were usually given Cosmos designations, the estimated cost of the Luna programme was about $4.5 billion. Luna 1 missed its intended impact with the Moon and became the first spacecraft to fall into orbit around the Sun, Luna 2 mission successfully hit the Moons surface, becoming the first man-made object to reach the Moon. Luna 3 rounded the Moon later that year, and returned the first photographs of its far side, Luna 9 became the first probe to achieve a soft landing on another planetary body. It returned five black and white stereoscopic circular panoramas, which were the first close-up shots of the Lunar surface, Luna 10 became the first artificial satellite of the Moon. Luna 17 and Luna 21 carried the Lunokhod vehicles, which roamed around on the Moons terrain, another major achievement of the Luna programme, with Luna 16, Luna 20 and Luna 24, was the ability to collect samples of lunar soil and return them to Earth. The programme returned 0.326 kg of lunar samples, the Luna missions were the first space-exploration sample return missions to rely solely on advanced robotics. Luna 15, also designed to return samples from the lunar surface. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were already on the surface when Luna 15 began its descent. While the programme was active, it was Soviet practice not to any details of missions which had failed to achieve orbit. When details of Soviet launches were later disclosed, no launches of Luna spacecraft were found to have occurred on those dates
24.
Lunokhod programme
–
Lunokhod was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. The 1969 Lunokhod 1A was destroyed during launch, the 1970 Lunokhod 1, the successful missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions. The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the Soviet manned moon missions during Moon race, the Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by Luna spacecraft, which were launched by Proton-K rockets. The moon lander part of the Luna spacecraft for Lunokhods were similar to the ones for sample return missions, the Lunokhods were designed by Alexander Kemurdzhian at Lavochkin. Not until the 1997 Mars Pathfinder was another remote-controlled vehicle put on an extraterrestrial body, Lunokhods original primary mission was the back-up for L3 manned moon expeditions and for the later Zvezda lunar base. LK-R used as an escape craft in case of disability to start from Moon of LK and Lunokhods used by cosmonaut for transfer to LK-R in necessity. This manned version of Lunokhod were additionally equipped with oxygen stock with hose socket, standing pads, in mid-1968, at the facility KIP-10 or NIP-10 in the secret village Shkolnoye, near Simferopol, a lunodrom was built. It covered an area of one hectare and was similar to some parts of the lunar surface. It was constructed using more than 3,000 cubic meters of soil, the whole area was surrounded with bricks, painted in gray and black. It was used to analyze problems with the Lunokhod chassis and to cosmonauts skill of control the one, the facility was one of a network of ten facilities which contain earth satellite vehicle tracking equipment and provide command/control for Soviet near-space civil and military events. Additionally, this facility was support all lunar programs of Soviet Union in association with the Evpatoria Deep Space Tracking Facility, at least four complete vehicles were constructed, with the serial numbers 201,203,204 and 205. After years of engineering development and training, the first Lunokhod was launched on February 19,1969. Within a few seconds the rocket disintegrated and the first Lunokhod was lost, the rest of the world did not learn of the rockets valuable payload until years later. The failure resulted in the heat source, Polonium 210. After the destruction of the original Lunokhod, Soviet engineers began work immediately on another lunar vehicle, Lunokhod 1 was the first of two unmanned lunar rovers successfully landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of its Lunokhod program. The spacecraft which carried Lunokhod 1 was named Luna 17, Lunokhod 1 was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world. Luna 17 was launched on November 10,1970 at 14,44,01 UTC, after reaching Earth parking orbit, the final stage of Luna 17s launching rocket fired to place it into a trajectory towards the Moon. After two course correction manoeuvres it entered orbit on November 15,1970 at 22,00 UTC
25.
Zond program
–
Zond was the name given to two distinct series of Soviet unmanned space program undertaken from 1964 to 1970. The first series based on 3MV planetary probe was intended to gather information about nearby planets, the first three missions were based on the model 3MV planetary probe, intended to explore Venus and Mars. After two failures, Zond 3 was sent on a test mission, becoming the second spacecraft to photograph the far side of the Moon and it then continued out to the orbit of Mars in order to test telemetry and spacecraft systems. The missions 4 through 8 were test flights under for the Soviet Moonshot during the Moon race, the Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft was used for the Moon-aimed missions, stripped down to make it possible to launch around the Moon from the Earth. They were launched on the Proton rocket which was just powerful enough to send the Zond on a return trajectory around the Moon without going into lunar orbit. With minor modification, Zond was capable of carrying two cosmonauts, in the beginning there were serious reliability problems with both the new Proton rocket and the similarly new Soyuz spacecraft, but the test flights pressed ahead with some glitches. The majority of test flights from 1967–1970 showed problems during re-entry, the Zond spacecraft made only unmanned automatic flights. Four of these suffered malfunctions that would have injured or killed any crew, instrumentation flown on these missions gathered data on micrometeor flux, solar and cosmic rays, magnetic fields, radio emissions, and solar wind. Many photographs were taken and biological payloads were also flown, cosmos 154 Launched 8 April 1967 Prototype Soyuz 7K-L1P launched by Proton and failed to go into planned translunar trajectory. Zond 1967A Launched 28 September 1967 Fell off course 60 seconds after launch, escape tower took Zond capsule safely away. Attempted Lunar flyby Zond 1967B Launched 22 November 1967 Second stage failure, attempted Lunar flyby Zond 4 Launched 2 March 1968 Study of remote regions of circumterrestrial space, development of new on-board systems and units of space stations. Returned to Earth 7 March 1968—Self destruct system automatically blew up the capsule at 10 to 15 km altitude, Zond 1968A Launched 23 April 1968 Second stage failed 260 seconds after launch. Attempted Lunar flyby Zond 1968B Launched 21 July 1968 Block D stage exploded on pad, the first spacecraft to circle the Moon and return to land on Earth. Zond 6 Launched 10 November 1968 Circumlunar 14 November 1968 Returned to Earth 17 November 1968 Zond 1969A Launched 20 January 1969 Stage two shutdown 25 seconds early, attempted Lunar flyby Zond L1S-1 Launched 21 February 1969 First stage failure. Capsule escape system fired 70 seconds after launch, attempted Lunar orbiter and N1 rocket test Zond L1S-2 Launched 3 July 1969 First stage failure
26.
Venus
–
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has the longest rotation period of any planet in the Solar System and it is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is the second-brightest natural object in the sky after the Moon, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6. Because Venus orbits within Earths orbit it is a planet and never appears to venture far from the Sun. Venus is a planet and is sometimes called Earths sister planet because of their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun. It is radically different from Earth in other respects and it has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial planets, consisting of more than 96% carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is 92 times that of Earth. Venus is by far the hottest planet in the Solar System, with a surface temperature of 735 K. Venus is shrouded by an layer of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid. It may have had water oceans in the past, but these would have vaporized as the temperature rose due to a greenhouse effect. The water has probably photodissociated, and the hydrogen has been swept into interplanetary space by the solar wind because of the lack of a planetary magnetic field. Venuss surface is a dry desertscape interspersed with rocks and is periodically resurfaced by volcanism. As one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus has been a fixture in human culture for as long as records have existed. It has been sacred to gods of many cultures, and has been a prime inspiration for writers and poets as the morning star. Venus was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as the closest planet to Earth, Venus has been a prime target for early interplanetary exploration. It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft, Venuss thick clouds render observation of its surface impossible in visible light, and the first detailed maps did not emerge until the arrival of the Magellan orbiter in 1991. Plans have been proposed for rovers or more missions. Venus is one of the four planets in the Solar System
27.
Venera
–
The Venera series space probes were developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather data from Venus, Venera being the Russian name for Venus. As with some of the Soviet Unions other planetary probes, the versions were launched in pairs with a second vehicle being launched soon after the first of the pair. Ten probes from the Venera series successfully landed on Venus and transmitted data from the surface of Venus, in addition, thirteen Venera probes successfully transmitted data from the atmosphere of Venus. The later probes in the Venera series successfully carried out their mission, since the surface conditions on Venus are extreme, the probes only survived on the surface for durations varying between 23 minutes up to about two hours. The first Soviet attempt at a flyby probe to Venus was launched on February 4,1961, in keeping with the Soviet policy at that time of not announcing details of failed missions, the launch was announced under the name Tyazhely Sputnik. It is also known as Venera 1VA, Venera 1 and Venera 2 were intended as fly-by probes to fly past Venus without entering orbit. Venera 1 was launched on February 12,1961, telemetry on the probe failed seven days after launch. It is believed to have passed within 100,000 km of Venus, Venera 2 launched on November 12,1965, but also suffered a telemetry failure after leaving Earth orbit. The Venera 3 to 6 probes were similar, weighing approximately one ton, and launched by the Molniya-type booster rocket, they included a cruise bus and a spherical atmospheric entry probe. The probes were optimised for atmospheric measurements, but not equipped with any special landing apparatus, although it was hoped they would reach the surface still functioning, the first probes failed almost immediately, thereby disabling data transmission to Earth. Venera 3 became the first human-made object to impact another planets surface as it crash-landed on March 1,1966, however, as the spacecrafts dataprobes had failed upon atmospheric penetration, no data from within the Venusian boundary were retrieved from the mission. On 18 October 1967, Venera 4 became the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet, realizing the ships would be crushed before reaching the surface, the Soviets launched Venera 5 and Venera 6 as atmospheric probes. The Venera 7 probe was the first one designed to survive Venus surface conditions, still, the control scientists succeeded in extrapolating the pressure from the temperature data, which resulted from the first direct surface measurements. The Doppler measurements of the Venera 4 to 7 probes were the first evidence of the existence of high-speed zonal winds in the Venusian atmosphere, Venera 7s parachute failed shortly before landing very close to the surface. It impacted at 17 metres per second and toppled over, due to the resultant antenna misalignment, the radio signal was very weak, but was detected for 23 more minutes before its batteries expired. Thus, it became, on 15 December 1970, the first human-made probe to transmit data from the surface of Venus, Venera 8 was equipped with an extended set of scientific instruments for studying the surface. The cruise bus of Venera 7 and 8 was similar to that of earlier ones, the lander transmitted data during the descent and landed in sunlight. It measured the level but had no camera
28.
Vega program
–
The Vega program was a series of Venus missions that also took advantage of the appearance of comet 1P/Halley in 1986. They had a mission to investigate Venus and also flyby Halleys Comet. The flyby of Halleys Comet had been a mission change in the Venera program following on from the cancellation of the American Halley mission in 1981. A later Venera mission was cancelled and the Venus part of the Vega 1 mission was reduced, because of this, the craft was designated Vega, a contraction of Venera and Gallei. The spacecraft design was based on the previous Venera 9 and Venera 10 missions, the two spacecraft were launched on December 15 and 21,1984, respectively. With their redesignated dual missions, the Vega probes became part of the Halley Armada, Vega 1 and Vega 2 were identical sister ships. The spacecraft was a development of the earlier Venera craft and they were designed by Babakin Space Center and constructed as 5VK by Lavochkin at Khimki. The craft was powered by large solar panels and instruments included an antenna dish, cameras, spectrometer, infrared sounder, magnetometers. The 4,920 kg craft was launched by a Proton 8K82K rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, both Vega 1 and Vega 2 were three-axis stabilized spacecraft. The spacecraft were equipped with a dual bumper shield for dust protection from Halleys comet, the units were released some days before each arrived at Venus and entered the atmosphere without active inclination changes. Each contained a lander and a balloon explorer, the Vega 1 landers surface experiments were inadvertently activated at 20 km from the surface by an especially hard wind jolt, and so failed to provide results. The Vega 2 lander touched down at 03,00,50 UT on June 15,1985 at 8. 5° S,164. 5° E, the altitude of the touchdown site was 0.1 km above the planetary mean radius. The measured pressure at the site was 91 atm and the temperature was 736 K. The surface sample was found to be an anorthosite-troctolite, the lander transmitted data from the surface for 56 minutes. The instrument pack had enough power for sixty hours of operation and measured temperature, pressure, wind speed. The balloon envelopes were surfaced with polytetrafluoroethylene to resist attack by the corrosive atmosphere, both Vega-1 and Vega-2 balloons operated for more than 46 hrs from injection to the final transmission. The balloons were spherical superpressure types with a diameter of 3.54 metres, a gondola assembly weighing 6.9 kilograms and 1.3 meters long was connected to the balloon envelope by a tether 13 metres long. Total mass of the assembly was 21 kilograms
29.
Mars program
–
The Mars program was a series of unmanned spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, early Mars spacecraft were small, and launched by Molniya rockets. Starting with two failures in 1969, the heavier Proton-K rocket was used to launch larger 5 tonne spacecraft, consisting of an orbiter, the orbiter bus design was likely somewhat rushed into service and immature, considering that it performed very reliably in the Venera variant after 1975. The names of the Mars missions do not need to be translated, as the word Mars is spelled and pronounced approximately the same way in English and Russian. In addition to the Mars program, the Soviet Union also sent a probe to Mars as part of the Zond program, Zond 2, two more spacecraft were sent during the Phobos program. In 1996, Russia launched Mars 96, its first interplanetary mission since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the first Soviet attempts to send a probe to Mars were the two Mars 1M spacecraft, which each had a mass of about 650 kg. Both were launched in 1960 and failed to achieve orbit, the spacecraft were dubbed Marsnik by the Western media. Mars 1 was launched in 1962 but failed en route to Mars, Mars 2M No.521 and Mars 2M No.522, known in the West as Mars 1969A and B, were heavier spacecraft with masses of 5 tonnes. They were launched by Proton-K rockets, and consisted of orbiters, the Mars 4M spacecraft, Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of identical spacecraft, each with an orbiter and an attached lander, which became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of Mars. The descent module entered the Martian atmosphere at roughly 6.0 km/s at a steeper angle than planned, the descent system malfunctioned and the lander crashed at 45°S 30°W, delivering the Soviet Union coat of arms to the surface. Meanwhile, the engine performed a burn to put the spacecraft into a 1380 x 24,940 km. Scientific instruments were turned on for about 30 minutes near periapsis. The descent module entered the Martian atmosphere at roughly 5.7 km/s, through aerodynamic braking, parachutes, and retrorockets, the lander achieved a soft landing at 45°S 158°W and began operations. However, after 20 seconds the instruments stopped working for unknown reasons, Mars 3 lander still managed to transmit a portion of the first picture of Martian surface. Meanwhile, the orbiter had suffered from a loss of fuel. The engine instead performed a burn to put the spacecraft into a long 12-day-19-hour period orbit about Mars with an inclination thought to be similar to that of Mars 2. Both landers had a small Mars rover on board, which would move across the surface on skis while connected to the lander with a 15-meter umbilical. Two small metal rods were used for obstacle avoidance, as radio signals from Earth would take too long to drive the rovers using remote control
30.
Phobos program
–
The Phobos program was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. Phobos 1 was launched on 7 July 1988, and Phobos 2 on 12 July 1988, Phobos 1 suffered a terminal failure en route to Mars. Phobos 2 attained Mars orbit, but contact was lost before the final phase, Phobos 1 and 2 were of a new spacecraft design, succeeding the type used in the Venera planetary missions of 1975–1985, last used during the Vega 1 and Vega 2 missions to Comet Halley. They each had a mass of 2600 kg, the program featured cooperation from 14 other nations, including Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, France, West Germany, and the United States. The main section of the spacecraft consisted of a pressurized toroidal electronics section, below these were mounted four spherical tanks containing hydrazine for attitude control and, after the main propulsion module was to be jettisoned, orbit adjustment. A total of 28 thrusters were mounted on the tanks, with additional thrusters mounted on the spacecraft body. Attitude was maintained through the use of a control system, with pointing maintained with Sun. Phobos 1 operated nominally until an expected communications session on September 2,1988 failed to occur, the failure of controllers to regain contact with the spacecraft was traced to an error in the software uploaded on August 29/August 30, which had deactivated the attitude thrusters. By losing its lock on the Sun, the spacecraft could no longer properly orient its solar arrays, software instructions to turn off the probes attitude control, normally a fatal operation, were part of a routine used when testing the spacecraft on the ground. Normally this routine would be removed before launch, however, the software was coded in PROMs, and so removing the test code would have required removing and replacing the entire computer. Because of time pressure from the launch, engineers decided to leave the command sequence in. However, an error in constructing an upload sequence resulted in the command executing. Phobos 2 was launched on July 12,1988, and entered orbit on January 29,1989, Phobos 2 operated nominally throughout its cruise and Mars orbital insertion phases on January 29,1989, gathering data on the Sun, the interplanetary medium, Mars, and Phobos. Phobos 2 investigated Marss surface and atmosphere and returned 37 images of Phobos with a resolution of up to 40 meters, Phobos probes carried several instruments, solar x-ray and ultraviolet telescopes, a neutron spectrometer and the Grunt radar experiment designed to study the surface relief of Phobos. These observations made it possible to retrieve the first mineralogical maps of the planet and its satellite, ISM was developed at IAS and DESPA with support from CNES. List of instruments, VSK TV imaging system PROP-F hopping lander, Z. Sagdeev & A. V. Zakharov. Brief history of the Phobos mission
31.
Mars flyby
–
A Mars flyby is a movement of spacecraft passing in the vicinity of the planet Mars, but not entering orbit or landing on it. Unmanned space probes have used this method to collect data on Mars, a spacecraft designed for a flyby is also known as a flyby bus or flyby spacecraft. The spacecraft they live in on the journey to Mars does the flyby, the Excursion modules ascent stage must rejoin the main spacecraft before it gets too far away. Mars cyclers orbit the Sun in such a way as to pass by Mars, the crews would live on the stations during the interplanetary voyages. Alternately, a human mission is also possible, without detaching at Mars. In July 1965, Mariner 4 achieved a flyby of Mars with a return of data, providing the public, during the flyby Mariner 4 took 21 pictures amounting to about 1% of the surface of Mars. Mars was not globally mapped until the Mariner 9 orbiter, which over the course of 1972 to 1973 took thousands of images up to 100m a pixel, in October 1999 Deep Space 1 made observations of Mars after its flyby of asteroid Braille. Although this was a distant flyby it did succeed in taking multiple infrared spectra with its MICAS instrument of the planet. Mariner program spacecraft Mariner 4, mapped 1% of Mars with 21 images, Mariner 6, and Mariner 7 returned data from Mars flybys, mapping about 20% of Mars more closely with a couple hundred images. Mars program spacecraft Two Mars flyby attempts were made in 1960 under Mars 1M, the third attempt at a Mars flyby was the Soviet Mars 2MV-4 No.1, also called Mars 1962A or Sputnik 22, which launched in 1962 as part of the Mars program. But it was destroyed in low Earth orbit due to rocket failure, Mars 1 also launched in 1962 but communications failed before it reached Mars. Mars 4 achieved a flyby in 1974 and detected a nightside ionosphere, Mars 6 and 7 were Mars landers carried by instrumented flyby buses. Dawn, closest approach was 549 km
32.
Mars Cube One
–
Mars Cube One is intended to provide a communications link to Earth for InSight during mission critical entry, descent, and landing when InSight will be out of sight from the Earth. Mars Cube One is expected to be the first spacecraft built to the CubeSat form to operate beyond Earth orbit, the launch of Mars Cube One is being managed by NASAs Launch Services Program. The launch was scheduled for 4 March 2016 on an Atlas V401. The two MarCO CubeSats, are identical and they measure 36.6 cm ×24.3 cm ×11.8 cm with one of them serving as backup. They will fly by Mars during the phase and relay InSights telemetry in real time. MarCO is a technology capability demonstration of communications relay system, MarCO has a small UHF antenna and a large flat-panel X band antenna. They are capable of an 8 kbit/s UHF link from InSight to MarCO, and 8 kbit/s X-band link from MarCO to DSN dishes on Earth
33.
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
–
The Trace Gas Orbiter delivered the Schiaparelli lander and will start atmospheric mapping in 2017. A key goal is to gain an understanding of methane. The landers radio signal was lost during the descent through the Mars atmosphere, investigations with space and Earth-based observatories have demonstrated the presence of a small amount of methane on the atmosphere of Mars that seems to vary with location and time. This may indicate the presence of life on Mars, or a geochemical process such as volcanism or hydrothermal activity. ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter was born out of the nexus of ESAs Aurora programme ExoMars flagship and it became a flexible collaborative proposal within NASA and ESA to send a new orbiter-carrier to Mars in 2016 as part of the European-led ExoMars mission. On the ExoMars side, ESA authorized about half a billion Euros in 2005 for a rover and mini-station, NASAs Mars Science Orbiter was originally envisioned in 2008 as an all-NASA endeavour aiming for a late 2013 launch. NASA and ESA officials agreed to pool resources and technical expertise, with NASAs funding for this project cancelled, most of ExoMars plans had to be restructured. The Trace Gas Orbiter and descent module Schiaparelli completed testing and were integrated to a Proton rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in mid-January 2016, the launch occurred at 09,31 UTC on 14 March 2016. Four rocket burns occurred in the following 10 hours before the descent module, a signal from the spacecraft was received at 21,29 UTC that day, confirming that the launch was successful and the spacecraft were functioning properly. Briefing reporters in Moscow, the head of Roscosmos denied any anomaly, the Schiaparelli lander separated from the TGO orbiter on 16 October 2016, three days before it arrived on Mars, and entered the atmosphere at 21,000 km/h. The landers radio signal was lost during the descent through the atmosphere, and as of 20 October 2016, the FREND instrument will map hydrogen levels to a maximum depth of 1 m beneath the Martian surface. Locations where hydrogen is found may indicate water-ice deposits, which could be useful for future crewed missions, particularly, the mission will characterise spatial, temporal variation, and localisation of sources for a broad list of atmospheric trace gases. If methane is found in the presence of propane or ethane, however, if methane is found in the presence of gases such as sulfur dioxide, that would be an indication that the methane is a byproduct of geological processes. Detection The nature of the methane source requires measurements of a suite of trace gases in order to characterise potential biochemical and geochemical processes at work. Detection sensitivities are at levels of 100 parts per trillion, improved to 10 parts per trillion or better by averaging spectra which could be taken at several spectra per second, to achieve the spatial resolution required to localise sources might require tracing molecules at parts-per-billion concentrations. Like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Trace Gas Orbiter is a hybrid science and its scientific payload mass is about 113.8 kg and consists of, The Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery has two infrared and one ultraviolet spectrometer channels. The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite has three infrared spectrometer channels, NOMAD and ACS will provide the most extensive spectral coverage of Martian atmospheric processes so far. Twice per orbit, at sunrise and sunset, they will be able to observe the Sun as it shines through the atmosphere
34.
Mars Orbiter Mission
–
The Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, is a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation and it is Indias first interplanetary mission and ISRO has become the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency. It is the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, the Mars Orbiter Mission probe lifted-off from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Andhra Pradesh, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket C25 at 09,08 UTC on 5 November 2013. The launch window was approximately 20 days long and started on 28 October 2013, the MOM probe spent about a month in Earth orbit, where it made a series of seven apogee-raising orbital manoeuvres before trans-Mars injection on 30 November 2013. After a 298-day transit to Mars, it was inserted into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014. The mission is a demonstrator project to develop the technologies for designing, planning, management. It carries five instruments that will help advance knowledge about Mars to achieve its secondary, on 23 November 2008, the first public acknowledgement of an unmanned mission to Mars was announced by then-ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair. The MOM mission concept began with a feasibility study in 2010 by the Indian Institute of Space Science, the government of India approved the project on 3 August 2012, after the Indian Space Research Organisation completed ₹125 crore of required studies for the orbiter. The total project cost may be up to ₹454 crore, the satellite costs ₹153 crore and the rest of the budget has been attributed to ground stations and relay upgrades that will be used for other ISRO projects. Launch opportunities for a fuel-saving Hohmann transfer orbit occur every 26 months, assembly of the PSLV-XL launch vehicle, designated C25, started on 5 August 2013. The satellites development was fast-tracked and completed in a record 15 months, despite the US federal government shutdown, NASA reaffirmed on 5 October 2013 it would provide communications and navigation support to the mission. During a meeting on 30 September 2014, NASA and ISRO officials signed an agreement to establish a pathway for future joint missions to explore Mars. One of the groups objectives will be to explore potential coordinated observations. The total cost of the mission was approximately ₹450 Crore, making it the least-expensive Mars mission to date. The low cost of the mission was ascribed by K. Radhakrishnan, bBCs Jonathan Amos mentioned lower worker costs, home-grown technologies, simpler design, and significantly less complicated payload than NASAs MAVEN. The primary objective of the mission is to develop the technologies required for designing, planning, management, the secondary objective is to explore Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments. Mass, The lift-off mass was 1,337.2 kg, the satellite structure is constructed of an aluminium and composite fibre reinforced plastic sandwich construction. Power, Electric power is generated by three solar panels of 1.8 m ×1.4 m each, for a maximum of 840 watts of power generation in Mars orbit
35.
Mars Express
–
Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency. The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency, Express originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was designed and built. Mars Express consists of two parts, the Mars Express Orbiter and the Beagle 2, a designed to perform exobiology. Due to the science return and the highly flexible mission profile, Mars Express has been granted six mission extensions. Some of the instruments on the orbiter, including the systems and some spectrometers. The design of Mars Express is based on ESAs Rosetta mission, on which a sum was spent on development. The same design was used for the Venus Express mission in order to increase reliability and reduce development cost. Because of these redesigns and repurposings, the total cost of the project was about $345 million- less than half of comparable U. S. missions. The Mars Express mission is dedicated to the study of the interior, subsurface, surface and atmosphere. Mars exploration is crucial for an understanding of the Earth from the perspective of comparative planetology. The spacecraft originally carried seven instruments, a small lander, a lander relay. All of the instruments take measurements of the surface, atmosphere and interplanetary media, from the spacecraft in polar orbit. The total initial Mars Express budget excluding the lander was €150 million, the prime contractor for the construction of Mars Express Orbiter was EADS Astrium Satellites. In the years preceding the launch of a spacecraft numerous teams of experts distributed over the companies and organisations prepared the space. Each of these teams focussed on the area of its responsibility, the spacecraft was launched on June 2,2003 at 23,45 local time from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, using a Soyuz-FG/Fregat rocket. The Mars Express and Fregat booster were initially put into a 200 km Earth parking orbit, the Fregat and Mars Express separated at approximately 19,17 UT. The solar panels were deployed and a trajectory correction manoeuvre was performed on June 4 to aim Mars Express towards Mars. The Mars Express was the first Russian-launched probe to make it out of LEO since the Soviet Union fell
36.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
–
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. The US$720 million spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin under the supervision of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission is managed by the California Institute of Technology, at the JPL, in La Cañada Flintridge, California, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington and it was launched August 12,2005, and attained Martian orbit on March 10,2006. In November 2006, after five months of aerobraking, it entered its science orbit. It paves the way for future spacecraft by monitoring Mars daily weather and surface conditions, studying potential landing sites, MROs telecommunications system will transfer more data back to Earth than all previous interplanetary missions combined, and MRO will serve as a highly capable relay satellite for future missions. One of two missions considered for the 2003 Mars launch window, the MRO proposal lost against what became known as the Mars Exploration Rovers. The orbiter mission was rescheduled for launch in 2005, and NASA announced its name, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. MRO is modeled after NASAs highly successful Mars Global Surveyor to conduct surveillance of Mars from orbit, early specifications of the satellite included a large camera to take high resolution pictures of Mars. Garvin, the Mars exploration program scientist for NASA, proclaimed that MRO would be a microscope in orbit, the satellite was also to include a visible-near-infrared spectrograph. On October 3,2001, NASA chose Lockheed Martin as the contractor for the spacecrafts fabrication. By the end of 2001 all of the instruments were selected. There were no major setbacks during MROs construction, and the spacecraft was moved to John F. Kennedy Space Center on May 1,2005 to prepare it for launch, MRO science operations were initially scheduled to last two Earth years, from November 2006 to November 2008. One of the main goals is to map the Martian landscape with its high-resolution cameras in order to choose landing sites for future surface missions. The MRO played an important role in choosing the site of the Phoenix Lander. The initial site chosen by scientists was imaged with the HiRISE camera, after analysis with HiRISE and the Mars Odysseys THEMIS instrument a new site was chosen. Mars Science Laboratory, a highly maneuverable rover, also had its landing site inspected, the MRO provided critical navigation data during their landings and acts as a telecommunications relay. MRO is using its onboard scientific equipment to study the Martian climate, weather, atmosphere, and geology, in addition, MRO was tasked with looking for the remains of the previously lost Mars Polar Lander and Beagle 2 spacecraft. Beagle 2 was found by the orbiter at the beginning of 2015, after its main science operations are completed, the probes extended mission is to be the communication and navigation system for landers and rover probes
37.
MAVEN
–
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission is a space probe developed by NASA designed to study the Martian atmosphere while orbiting Mars. Mission goals include determining how the atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time. MAVEN was successfully launched aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle at the beginning of the first launch window on November 18,2013. On September 22,2014, MAVEN reached Mars and was inserted into an elliptic orbit 6,200 km by 150 km above the planets surface. The principal investigator for the spacecraft is Bruce Jakosky of the Laboratory for Atmospheric, on 5 November 2015, NASA announced that data from MAVEN shows that the deterioration of Mars’ atmosphere increases significantly during solar storms. This shift took place between about 4.2 to 3.7 billion years ago, the mission was spawned by NASAs Mars Scout Program, which, although discontinued in 2010, yielded Phoenix, MAVEN, and numerous missions studies. Mars Scout missions target a cost of less than US$485 million, not including launch services, the total project costs up to $671 million. On September 15,2008, NASA announced that it had selected MAVEN to be the Mars Scout 2013 mission, there was one other finalist and eight other proposals that were competing against MAVEN. The name is a use of the word maven, a person who has special knowledge or experience. On August 2,2013, the MAVEN spacecraft arrived at Kennedy Space Center Florida to begin launch preparations, NASA scheduled the launch of MAVEN from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on November 18,2013, using an Atlas V401 rocket. The probe arrived in Mars orbit in September 2014, at approximately the time as Indias Mars Orbiter Mission. On October 1,2013, only seven weeks before launch, with the spacecraft nominally scheduled to launch on November 18, a delay beyond December 7 would have caused MAVEN to miss the launch window as Mars moved too far out of alignment with the Earth. On September 22,2014, at approximately 2,24 UTC, MAVEN spacecraft entered orbit around Mars, however, that thick atmosphere was somehow lost to space. The goal of MAVEN is to determine the history of the loss of gases to space. The MAVEN mission has four primary objectives, Determine the role that loss of volatiles to space from the Martian atmosphere has played through time. Determine the current state of the atmosphere, ionosphere. Determine the current rates of escape of gases and ions to space. Determine the ratios of isotopes in the Martian atmosphere
38.
2001 Mars Odyssey
–
2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin and its mission is to use spectrometers and a thermal imager to detect evidence of past or present water and ice, as well as study the planets geology and radiation environment. It also acts as a relay for communications between the Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory, and previously the Phoenix lander to Earth, the mission was named as a tribute to Arthur C. Clarke, evoking the name of 2001, A Space Odyssey, Odyssey was launched April 7,2001, on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and reached Mars orbit on October 24,2001, at 02,30 UTC. It is currently in an orbit around Mars with an altitude of about 3,800 km or 2,400 miles. By December 15,2010, it broke the record for longest serving spacecraft at Mars, with 3,340 days of operation, claiming the title from NASAs Mars Global Surveyor. It currently holds the record for the longest-surviving continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth, ahead of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter, Mars Odyssey was originally a component of the Mars Surveyor 2001 program, and was named the Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter. Subsequently, the name 2001 Mars Odyssey was selected for the orbiter as a tribute to the vision of space exploration shown in works by Arthur C. Clarke, including 2001, A Space Odyssey, the music from Mythodea by Greek composer Vangelis was used as the theme music for the mission. In August 2000, NASA solicited candidate names for the mission, which were evaluated by a committee consisting of Mark Dahl, Michael Meyer, Steve Saunders. Out of 200 names submitted, the committee chose Astrobiological Reconnaissance and Elemental Surveyor, faced with criticism that this name was not very compelling, and too aggressive, the naming committee reconvened. The candidate name 2001 Mars Odyssey had earlier been rejected because of copyright, however, NASA e-mailed Arthur C. Clarke in Sri Lanka, who responded that he would be delighted to have the mission named for his books, and he had no objections. On September 20, NASA associate administrator Ed Weiler wrote to the administrator for public affairs recommending a name change from ARES to 2001 Mars Odyssey. Peggy Wilhide then approved the name change, the three primary instruments Odyssey uses are the, Thermal Emission Imaging System. Gamma Ray Spectrometer, includes the High Energy Neutron Detector, provided by Russia, on May 28,2002, NASA reported that Odysseys GRS had detected large amounts of hydrogen, a sign that there must be ice lying within a meter of the planets surface. GRS is a collaboration between University of Arizonas Lunar and Planetary Lab. the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Russias Space Research Institute, Mars Odyssey launched from Cape Canaveral on April 11,2001, and arrived at Mars about 200 days later on October 24. The spacecrafts main engine fired in order to brake the spacecrafts speed, Odyssey then spent about three months aerobraking, using friction with the upper reaches of the Martian atmosphere to gradually slow down and to shrink and circularize its orbit. By using the atmosphere of Mars to slow down the spacecraft in its orbit, rather than firing its engine or thrusters, aerobraking ended in January, and Odyssey began its science mapping mission on February 19,2002
39.
Mars landing
–
A Mars landing is a landing of a spacecraft on the surface of Mars. Of multiple attempted Mars landings by robotic, unmanned spacecraft, seven have been successful, there have also been studies for a possible human mission to Mars, including a landing, but none have been attempted. As of October 2016, all methods of landing on Mars have required an aeroshell and parachute sequence, a stationary lander can drop from the parachute back shell and ride retrorockets all the way down, but a rover cannot be burdened with rockets that serve no purpose after touchdown. One method is to enclose the rover in a structure which in turn is enclosed in airbags. After the aeroshell drops off, the tetrahedron is lowered clear of the back shell on a lanyard so that the airbags can inflate. When it nears the ground, the tetrahedron is released to drop to the ground, when it has come to rest, the tetrahedron opens to expose the rover. If a rover is too heavy to use airbags, the retrorockets can be mounted on a sky crane, the sky crane drops from the parachute back shell and, as it nears the ground, the rover is lowered on a lanyard. When the rover touches ground, it cuts the lanyard so that the sky crane will crash well away from the rover, all three methods have advantages and disadvantages, requiring careful consideration by the engineers. For landers that are heavier than the Curiosity rover, engineers are developing a combination rigid-inflatable Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator that could be 8 meters in diameter. It would have to be accompanied by a proportionately larger parachute, beginning with the Mars Exploration Rovers, landers on the surface of Mars have used orbiting spacecraft as communications satellites for relaying their data to Earth. The landers use UHF transmitters to send their data to the orbiters, the first probe intended to be a Mars impact lander was the Soviet Mars 1962B unsuccessfully launched in 1962. In 1971 the Soviet Union successfully sent probes Mars 2 and Mars 3, the Mars 2 and 3 probes each carried a lander, both of which failed upon landing. They were the first human artifacts to touch down on Mars and these spaceprobes also contained the first mini-Mars rovers, although they were broken on landing. The Mars 2 and 3 orbiters sent back a large volume of data covering the period from December 1971 to March 1972, by 22 August 1972, after sending back data and a total of 60 pictures, Mars 2 and 3 concluded their missions. The images and data enabled creation of surface relief maps, and gave information on the Martian gravity, in 1973, the Soviet Union sent four more probes to Mars, the Mars 4 and Mars 5 orbiters and the Mars 6 and Mars 7 fly-by/lander combinations. All missions except Mars 7 sent back data, with Mars 5 being most successful, Mars 5 transmitted 60 images before a loss of pressurization in the transmitter housing, ended the mission. Mars 6 lander transmitted data during descent, but failed upon impact, Mars 4 flew by the planet at a range of 2200 km returning one swath of pictures and radio occultation data, which constituted the first detection of the nightside ionosphere on Mars. Mars 7 probe separated prematurely from the vehicle due to a problem in the operation of one of the onboard systems
.jpg)
.jpg)
