Russian planetary exploration : history, development, legacy, prospects / Brian Harvey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harvey, Brian, 1953-

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Series:

Springer-Praxis books in space exploration

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Astronautics--Soviet Union.

Astronautics.

Soviet Union.

Astronautics--Russia.

Space flight to Mars.

Space flight to Venus.

Planets--Exploration.

Planets.

Interplanetary voyages.

Space flights.

Russia.

Physical Description:

xxi, 351 pages : illustrations, map, portraits ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Springer ; Chichester, UK : In association with Praxis Pub., [2007]

Summary:

In all, the Soviet Union and Russia have launched 54 interplanetary spacecraft, often with ground-breaking results. Although there have been many heartbreaking disappointments, the years 1975-86 marked a high summer of technical and scientific success. The knowledge gained from this period was considerable and has transformed our views of the planets Venus and Mars. In addition, the Soviet Union achieved many important 'firsts' in its program, including: First probes to Venus (1961) and Mars (1962), First soft landing on Venus and Mars (1970, 1971), First pictures from the surface of Venus (1975), First chemical laboratory analysis of the soil of Venus (1982), First close flyby of a comet (Comet Halley, 1986), First interception of a moon in orbit around another planet (Phobos, 1989).

Now, 50 years after the first Sputnik, the Russians are making fresh plans to return to the planets. In a daring and complex mission, Phobos Grunt will land on Mars' little moon Phobos, scoop up soil samples and return them to Earth - a new first in space exploration. Russian Planetary Exploration assesses the scientific haul of data from the Venus and Mars missions and examines the engineering techniques and the science packages used, as well as the difficulties which ruined several missions. The book is illustrated with photographs taken by Soviet Venus and Mars probes, and with material from the program that has only come to light in recent years, such as pictures of the spacecraft, diagrams of the flight paths and landing techniques and maps of the landing sites.

Contents:

1 Aelita 1

The long school summer of 1883 1

Aelita and the role of science fiction in Russia 2

Perelman, Tsander and Shargei 4

After suppression, revival 7

Venus at the time of the space age 8

Mars at the time of the space age 13

Prelude to the interplanetary age 15

2 First plans 17

Soviet rocketry 17

Germany's progress 18

R-7 rocket 19

The idea of an Earth satellite 21

The idea of an interplanetary probe 23

The First Cosmic Ship 26

Planning the first Venus and Mars missions 26

The rocket for the Mars, Venus probes 29

Tracking system 31

The man-to-Mars programme in the 1950s 35

Korabl Mars Venera and the Tizhuly Mezhplanetny Korabl (TMK) 36

Another way to go: Kosmoplan 39

Ready for Mars and Venus 41

3 The first Mars, Venus probes 43

1M and 1V series, 1960 43

Hiding in plain view: Tyzhuli sputnik 49

The first automatic interplanetary station to Venus 51

'Sabotage is not excluded' 54

Re-design 56

The 2MV series in 1962 60

Mars 1 64

3MV series: 1964 Venus missions 68

Improving the launcher: the 8K78M 72

3MV: 1964 Mars missions 73

Zond 2 postscript 76

End of the first series 78

4 OKB Lavochkin 81

OKB-301 Lavochkin 81

Three-part reorganization: Lavochkin, ministry, institute 84

Lavochkin's redesign 87

New spacecraft: new rocket - the UR-500 (8K82) 89

Russia reaches the evening star 93

First descent 98

Venera 5, 6 102

New tracking systems 106

Under new management 108

5 First landfall on Venus, Mars 111

First landfall on Venus 111

Baseline Venus: Venera 8 115

Babakin's first design: Mars 69 120

Design challenges of Mars 69 123

Broken windows, broken hopes 127

Mars 71S: an orbiter to fly ahead of the landing fleet 128

How to reach and soft-land? 130

Mini-rovers 134

The loss of Mars 71S and its consequences 138

On the way at last 139

Georgi Babakin, 1914-1971 140

First to reach the surface of Mars 142

Mars 3: first to soft-land 144

The orbital missions 146

The great Mars fleet: the problem of 2T-212 154

On their way 157

Mars 6 reaches Mare Erythraeum 158

The short success of Mars 5 161

Mars fleet aftermath 165

6 The high summer of Soviet planetary exploration, 1975-1986 171

New generation 171

Venera 9 lands on a mountainside 174

Venera 10 176

Venera 11, 12: the first sounds of another world 184

Venera 13, 14: drilling the rocks 191

Venera 13 and 14 outcomes 196

Venera 15 and 16: the plan 199

Venera 15, 16: the mission 202

Venera 15, 16: outcomes 205

Toward VEGA: the balloon project 211

VEGA: the mission 213

VEGA: spacecraft and instruments 215

VEGA at Venus 218

The balloon journeys 223

Breaking the curse of Suslov: VEGA at Comet Halley 227

The interception of Halley: scientific results 229

High summer 232

7 Phobos, crisis and decline 239

The Martians strike back: Projects 5NM, 5M 239

New chief designer: Vyacheslav Kovtunenko; new spacecraft: UMVL 243

Phobos: last of the Soviet Mars probes 246

'We can shoot them all later' 251

Precarious arrival at Mars 252

Manoeuvring to the moon 254

'The last message from the dying Phobos 2' 257

Science results from Phobos 261

Putting it back together again 266

The Soviet Union becomes Russia 269

Completed by candlelight 270

After Mars 96? 273

Mars 96: last of the heavyweights 275

Instead of Mars, the Andes: the short, sorry flight of Mars 96 281

Hard times 284

Planetary spacecraft leave from Baikonour again 286

8 Returning to the planets? 291

Critical paths to Mars 291

Biosphere 292

Manovtsev, Ulybyshev and Bozhko fly to Mars 293

The Mir experience 296

Critical nuclear, electric paths 298

Aelita - not the film, but the real thing 299

Aelita: the new TMK-MEK 300

Aelita: Chelomei's UR-700M 302

End of Aelita 302

Following Aelita: Energiya's new designs 303

DZh VS: long-duration Venus lander 308

Final Soviet period plans 310

Vesta mission 310

Putting Mars back together again 314

Return to Phobos? Phobos Grunt 314

Fire and ice 318

Keeping the dream alive 321

9 The legacy 325

Appendix A Soviet and Russian planetary missions 333

Appendix B Where are they now? 335

Journal articles, articles, reports, papers, brochures and similar publications 340

Booklets 344

Internet 344

Periodicals and journals consulted 345.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [339]-345) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0387463437

9780387463438

OCLC:

82918028