Beyond_Earth-_A_Chronicle_of_Deep_Space_Exploration_1958-2016.pdf

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97

[Zond, 7K-L1 no. 7L]

Nation: USSR (54)

Objective(s): circumlunar flight

Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 7L)

Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg

Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM

Launch Vehicle: Proton-K + Blok D (8K82K no. 232-01 + 11S824 no. 15L)

Launch Date and Time: 22 April 1968 / 23:01:27 UT

Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 81/24

Scientific Instruments: [unknown]

Results: During this third attempt at a circumlunar mission, the Proton rocket's second stage engine spuriously shut down at T+194.64 seconds due to a false signal from the payload which had erroneously detected a problem in the launch vehicle. The emergency rescue system was activated and the 7K-L1 capsule was later successfully recovered about 520 kilometers from the launch pad, approximately 110 kilometers east of the town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

98

Zond 5

Nation: USSR (55)

Objective(s): circumlunar flight

Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 9L)

Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg

Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM

Launch Vehicle: Proton-K + Blok D (8K82K no. 234-01 + 11S824 no. 17L)

Launch Date and Time: 14 September 1968 / 21:42:11 UT

Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 81/23

Scientific Instruments:

    1. biological payload
    1. radiation detectors
    1. imaging system

Results: After three failures, the Soviets tried again to accomplish a robotic circumlunar mission. Besides a complement of sensors to monitor its basic systems and cameras, the spacecraft also carried a large biological payload: two Steppe tortoises (Testudo horsfieldi or the Horsfield's tortoise), each with a mass of 0.34 to 0.40 kilograms, hundreds of Drosophila eggs of the Domodedovo-32 line; air-dried cells of wheat, barley, peas, carrots, and tomatoes; a flowering plant of Tradescantia paludosa, three different strains of chlorella, and a culture of lysogenic bacteria. The tortoises, each 6–7 years old and weighing 340–400 grams, were part of a group of eight, with the other six serving as controls on the ground. The two flight tortoises were placed in the Zond 5 spacecraft on September 2, 12 days before launch. From that moment on, they (and two of the control group) were deprived of food to ensure that the only effect on them was due to the space mission. The ascent to orbit was perfect: the 7K-L1 spacecraft + Blok D combination successfully entered a 191 × 219-kilometer Earth orbit. About 67 minutes after launch, the Blok D fired again for lunar injection, after which the Soviet press announced the mission as "Zond 5." Once again, the 100K star sensor of the spacecraft's attitude control system failed (due to contamination of its exposed surface). Controllers, however, managed to carry out a mid-course correction at 03:11 UT on 17 September using the less accurate solar and Earth-directed sensors. At the time, Zond 5 was 325,000 kilometers from Earth. The spacecraft successfully circled around the farside of the Moon at a range of 1,950 kilometers on 18 September, taking spectacular high-resolution photos of the Moon and Earth. On the return leg of the flight, a second attitude control sensor (the 101K that used Earth for attitude control reference) failed and the spacecraft's three-axis stabilization platform switched off the guided reentry system. As a result, controllers were forced to maintain reentry attitude using the one remaining sensor (the 99K that used the Sun); they alternately fired two attitude control jets on each side of the vehicle to swing the spacecraft into the proper reentry corridor for a direct ballistic reentry into the backup target area in the Indian Ocean. Zond 5's descent module successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean at 32° 38′ S / 65° 33′ E, about 105 kilometers from the nearest Soviet tracking ship. Landing time was 16:08 UT on 21 September, making it a mission lasting 6 days, 18 hours, and 24 minutes. It was the first successful circumlunar mission carried out by any nation. The tortoises survived the trip and arrived back in Moscow on 7 October. The results of dissection, performed on 11 October after "a 39-day fast," showed that "the main structural changes in the tortoises were caused by starvation" rather than flight to lunar distance or the subsequent travel back from the Indian Ocean to Moscow.

99

Pioneer IX

Nation: USA (44)

Objective(s): solar orbit

Spacecraft: Pioneer-D

Spacecraft Mass: 65.36 kg

Mission Design and Management: NASA / ARC

Launch Vehicle: Thrust-Augmented Improved Thor Delta (Thor Delta E-1 no. 60 / Thor no. 479 / DSV-3E)

Launch Date and Time: 8 November 1968 / 09:46:29 UT

Launch Site: Cape Kennedy / Launch Complex 17B

Scientific Instruments:

    1. triaxial fluxgate magnetometer
    1. plasma analyzer
    1. cosmic ray-anesotropy detector
    1. cosmic ray gradient detector
    1. radio wave propagation experiment
    1. electric field detector
    1. cosmic dust detector
    1. celestial mechanics experiment

Results: Pioneer IX was the fourth in a series of five probes designed to collect data on electromagnetic and plasma properties of interplanetary space from widely separated points in heliocentric orbit over at least six passages of solar activity centers. In its 297.55-day orbit at 0.75 × 0.99 AU, the cylindrical, spin-stabilized spacecraft obtained valuable data on the properties of the solar wind, cosmic rays, and interplanetary magnetic fields. The Delta launch vehicle also carried the Test and Training Satellite known as Tetr II (TETR-B) which was put into Earth orbit to test ground-based communications systems in support of the Apollo program. By May 1969, NASA announced that the mission had already achieved all its objectives, having transmitted more than 6 billion bits of data. NASA maintained contact with Pioneer IX until 19 May 1983. Subsequent attempts to use Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) equipment to establish contact with the probe on 3 March 1987 failed, and the Agency officially declared the spacecraft inactive.

100

Zond 6

Nation: USSR (56)

Objective(s): circumlunar flight

Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 12L)

Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg

Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM

Launch Vehicle: Proton-K + Blok D (8K82K no. 235-01 / 11S824 no. 19L)

Launch Date and Time: 10 November 1968 / 19:11:31 UT

Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 81/23

Scientific Instruments:

  1. biological payload
  2. radiation detectors
  3. imaging system
  4. photo-emulsion camera
  5. micrometeoroid detector

Results: Zond 6 was the second spacecraft that the Soviets sent around the Moon as part of the human circumlunar program. Soon after trans-lunar injection, which happened at 20:18:30 UT on launch day, ground controllers discovered that the vehicle's high-gain antenna had failed to deploy. Given that the main attitude control sensor was installed on the antenna boom, controllers had to make plans to use a backup sensor for further attitude control. After a mid-course correction at 05:41 UT on 12 November (at a distance of 246,000 kilometers), the spacecraft circled the farside of the Moon at a closest range of 2,420 kilometers, taking high resolution black-and-white photographs of the Moon at a range of 11,000 and 3,300 kilometers. During the return flight, temperatures in a hydrogen peroxide tank for the attitude control thrusters dropped far below acceptable levels. Engineers attempted to heat the tank by direct sunlight, but as they later discovered, such a procedure affected the weak pressurization seal of the main hatch and led to slow decompression of the main capsule, which would have undoubtedly killed a crew on board. Despite the failures, Zond 6 conducted two mid-course corrections (on 16 November at 06:40 UT and 17 November at 05:36 UT), and then successfully carried out a fully automated guided reentry, requiring two successive "dips" into the atmosphere, each reducing velocity significantly (the first from 11.2 kilometers/second to 7.6 kilometers/second, and the second down to just 200 meters/second) and headed for the primary landing zone in Kazakhstan. Each of the "dips" was automatically and expertly controlled by attitude control jets to vary roll control so as to provide lift and reduce g-loads. The Zond 6 descent module experienced a maximum of only 4 to 7 g's. After the successful reentry, a gamma-ray altimeter, detecting the now practically depressurized spacecraft (with pressure down to only 25 millibars), issued a command to jettison the main parachute at an altitude of about 5.3 kilometers instead of much lower. As a result, the spacecraft plummeted down to the ground and was destroyed, with impact at 14:10 UT, just 16 kilometers from where the spacecraft had been launched 6 days and 19 hours previously. Although the main biological payload—unspecified by the Soviets—was killed, rescuers salvaged film from the cameras and even managed to scavenge seedlings carried on board.

101

Venera 5

Nation: USSR (57)

Objective(s): Venus landing

Spacecraft: V-69 (2V no. 330)

Spacecraft Mass: 1,130 kg

Mission Design and Management: GSMZ imeni Lavochkina

Launch Vehicle: Molniya-M + Blok VL (8K78M no. V716-72, also V15000-72)

Launch Date and Time: 5 January 1969 / 06:28:08 UT

Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5

Scientific Instruments:

Lander:

    1. radio altimeter
    1. MDDA-A aneroid barometers
    1. 11 G-8 and G-10 gas analyzer cartridges
    1. FO-69 to measure luminosity
    1. VIP to measure atmospheric density
    1. IS-164D thermometers

Bus:

    1. KS-18-3M cosmic ray particle counters
    1. LA-2U spectrometer

Results: Venera 5 and 6 were two identical spacecraft designed to penetrate Venus' atmosphere and transmit a variety of scientific data back to Earth during descent. Both spacecraft were targeted to reach Venus only a day apart, thus allowing some cross-calibration of data. The bus was basically similar in design to the Venera 4 bus but the 410-kilogram lander had some significant alterations. Because of data from Venera 4, the new lander was designed to survive pressures as high as 25 atmospheres and temperatures as high as 320°C. These changes forced a fairly significant increase in the structural strength of the lander, increasing its mass by 27 kilograms. This is why the mass of the spacecraft bus was reduced by 14 kilograms by removing the SG 59 magnetometer). The main and drogue parachutes were also reduced in size, thus reducing the time to descend to the surface. The new lander weighted 410 kilograms and was designed to endure g-loads as high as 450 (as compared to 300 for their predecessors). After performing 73 communications sessions with ground control and completing one mid-course correction on 14 March 1966, Venera 5 approached the dark side of Venus on 16 May 1969 and detached its lander whose speed reduced from 11.17 kilometers/second to 210 meters/second after it hit the Venusian atmosphere at 06:02 UT. One minute later, controllers reestablished contact with the lander and began receiving data on pressure, temperature, and composition (sampled at least twice during descent) of the Venusian atmosphere for 52.5 minutes. Contact was lost at an altitude of about 18 kilometers when the pressure exceeded 27 atmospheres; in other words, the probe probably cracked and became inert. Impact coordinates were 3° S / 18° E. Information extrapolated from Venera 5's data suggested that ground temperature and pressure at the Venusian surface was 140 atmospheres and 530°C, respectively.

102

Venera 6

Nation: USSR (58)

Objective(s): Venus landing

Spacecraft: V-69 (2V no. 331)

Spacecraft Mass: 1,130 kg

Mission Design and Management: GSMZ imeni Lavochkina

Launch Vehicle: Molniya-M + Blok VL (8K78M no. V716-73, also V15000-73)

Launch Date and Time: 10 January 1969 / 05:51:52 UT

Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5

Scientific Instruments:

Lander:

    1. radio altimeter
    1. MDDA-A aneroid barometers
    1. 11 G-8 and G-10 gas analyzer cartridges
    1. FO-69 to measure luminosity
    1. VIP to measure atmospheric density
    1. IS-164D thermometers

Bus:

    1. KS-18-3M cosmic ray particle counters
    1. LA-2U spectrometer
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