1.
Soviet Union
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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.
Proton (rocket family)
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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
3.
Mars
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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
4.
Phobos program
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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
5.
Phobos 1
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Phobos 1 was an unmanned Russian space probe of the Phobos Program launched from the Baikonour launch facility on 7 July 1988. Its intended mission was to explore Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos, the mission failed on 2 September 1988 when a computer malfunction caused the end-of-mission order to be transmitted to the spacecraft. At the time of launch it was the heaviest interplanetary spacecraft ever launched and it was to take an estimated 200 days for the Phobos 1 space probe to travel from the Earth to Mars. The first between days 7 and 20, and the second between day 185 and 193 and these corrections would place the probe in a highly elliptical orbit around Mars. Next, it was to move into an almost circular orbit at 350 km. After achieving observation orbit the stage of the propulsion system would be dropped. The Phobos 1 probes scientific study was separated into three phases, in stage one the probe would investigate the Sun and interplanetary space while traveling from the Earth to Mars. In stage two the probe would study Mars and Phobos while in orbit around Mars, during the final stage it would approach to within 50 meters of the Phobos surface while conducting several experiments. The Phobos probe carried several scientific experiments and it carried a radar transmitter, X-ray and alpha-backscatter spectrometers, camera, and a laser that could vaporize tiny spots so a reflector could analyze the vapor for atomic masses. The probe also carried a hopper, the hopper would be dropped onto Phobos to drill and analyze the soil. It would be able to bounce across the terrain by using spring loaded legs, on September 2, a faulty key-command was sent up to Phobos 1 from ground control in Yevapatoria. A technician unintentionally left out a single hyphen in one of the keyed commands, all commands were supposed to be proofread by a computer before being transmitted, but the computer that checked code was malfunctioning. The technician violated procedure and transmitted the command before the computer could be fixed to proofread it and this minor alteration in code caused the end-of-mission command to reach the spacecraft, shutting down all of the systems aboard Phobos 1. The error is also contributed to a political arguments between Yevapatoria and Moscow over who should control the mission, Moscow won control responsibility, but Yevapatoria would be responsible for checking all transmitted commands. This further complicated the process of transmitting valid commands to the spacecraft, after the incident at Yevapatoria, an investigation was immediately ordered to determine who was responsible for the failure. Nevertheless, disciplinary action was postponed until the completion of the Phobos 2 mission and this was to prevent the demoralization of the Phobos 2 team. Any penalization of the Phobos 1 team would create anxiety among the Phobos 2 team and this postponement of punitive measures was urged by IKI director Roald Sagdeev. He quoted secret service chief Lavrentin Beria saying Lets make them work for now and we can shoot them all later
6.
Moons of Mars
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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
7.
Phobos (moon)
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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
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