Viking-2-Orbiter

Viking-2 Orbiter (One of the mission of Viking Program)

    Viking-2 Orbiter is a part of Viking Program and similar to Viking-1-Program  sent to Mars.This mission consist of a Orbiter and a Lander. It was the second landing on the surface of Mars.Viking-2 was launched on 9 September 1975 carried by Titan IIIE Rocket with a launch mass of 1455 kilogram.

MISSION OVERVIEW:

     Viking-2 Orbiter started to beam images of Mars after the successful orbital insertion on 7 August 1976. The lander separated from the orbiter on 3 September 1976 and landed at Utopia Planitia.

RESULTS OF VIKING-2 MISSION:

ORBITER:

• It created an idea for Huge water on Mars
• River Valleys were found in many areas on the surface of Mars
• It discovered flow of water in carved deep valleys, eroded grooves, cracks of bed-rock
• It found Ravi Vallis which formed from catastropic floods came from ground.

LANDER:

• After analysing soil it found the presence of magnesium, aluminium, sulphur, calcium, titanium, strontium and yttrium.
• These minerals were the products of Igneous rocks 
• VIKING-2 BIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENT: It consist of instruments like
• Pyrolytic Release Experiment
• Labeled Release Experiment
• Gas Exchange Experiment
• Gas Chromatograph 
• Mass Spectrometer

• Scientists found that Viking Program gave positive results to the search of life, but still it is not confirmed

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Kosmos 419

Kosmos 419 was also known as 3MS-No.170 orbiter. It was a failed Soviet spacecraft to Mars. It was launched on 10 May 1971 from Baikanour launch pad, Russia and Kosmos was carried by Proton K/D rocket. Due to malfunction of rocket engine, it decayed in low earth orbit after launch on 12 May 1971.

SIMULTANEOUS MISSION:

     Simultaneously United states and Russia made new attempts to reach Red planet. Mariner8 and Mariner9 of NASA, Kosmos 419 of Russia. But Mariner-8 lost in launch failure two days before Kosmos 419 was launched. This spacecraft also lost on 12 May 1971. Mariner-9 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars.

REASON FOR LAUNCH FAILURE:

     Proton K/D's Block-D ignition timer was incorrectly set. It was set to ignite 1.5 years after launch instead of 1.5 hours.

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Viking 1 Orbiter

NASA's Viking Program consists of Viking-1 and Viking-2. Of these Viking-1 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to land on Mars. It Successfully landed on Mars on 20 July 1976. It occupies the second longest operated mission on Mars. The first place was occupied by Opportunity Rover which landed on 19 Mars 2010.Viking-1 Spacecraft carried a Orbiter and a Lander. The Viking-1 Lander performed Biological Experiment on the surface of Mars.

 START OF MISSION:

    Viking-1 Orbiter with Lander was carried by Titan IIIE/Centaur Rocket on 20 August 1975 at  11:53:06 UTC. Viking-1 after placed into its trajectory path to Mars, it traveled a period of 10 months and beamed back images of Mars Five days before its orbital insertion. Viking-1 Orbiter was successfully inserted into Martian Orbit on 19 July 1976. After orbital insertion Viking-1 Lander separated from orbiter at 08:51 UTC and performed successful landing on Mars at 11:53:06 UTC. This became the first lander to land on Mars.

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED BY ORBITER:

• Vidicon Cameras

• Infrared Spectrometer

• Water vapor mapper

• Infrared Radiometers

• Thermal Mapper  

ORBITER:

     The Viking-1 Orbiter became a communication relay between Viking-1 Lander and Earth. It performed various operation during its period from 19 June 1976 to 16 August 1980 and operations were terminated on 17 August 1980, because it was ran out of control gas.

LANDER:

       The lander separated from orbiter on 20 July 1976 and it orbited around mars at a speed of 5km per hour. Its retrorockets fired and landed safely on Martian Surface using its parachute. During its landing its Mass Spectrometer measured pressure, temperature and density sensors. After successful landing of Viking-1 Lander, it began its operations after 25 seconds.The lander operated for a period of 6 years on Mars.It conducted various experiments, but in an attempt to program a new software it lost its communication.

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED BY LANDER:

• Two Facsimile Cameras
• Analyser for Metabolism
• Gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer
• X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer
• Sensors to measure temperature, pressure,wind and velocity
• Three-axis seismometer
• A Magnet on a sampler
• Cameras and various sensors     

MISSION OUTCOMES:

      The Viking-1 Lander took biological experiment for the search of life, but the team got positive results. Some believe that the result was false due to various reasons. But NASA observed many changes to the surface near the viking landing site and they predict that, this change due to the inorganic chemical reactions. Life may be present.

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Mars 5 Orbiter | 3MS No.53S

Mars 5 Sketch

    Mars 3MS No.53S alternatively called Mars 5 Orbiter was a soviet spacecraft intended to explore Mars in early 1973. Mars 5 was intended to enter mars orbit around 1974.This spacecraft was built by Lavochkin. Mars 5 was the second of  two 3MS spacecraft launched to Mars in 1973. Other launches in the same window was Kosmos 419 orbiter, 3MP Mars 6, 3MP Mars 7.It carried an array of instruments to study Mars.Some of the Mars 5 instruments were:

 INSTRUMENTS CARRIED:

• Mars Camera
• Radio Telescope
• IR Radiometer
• Multiple photometer
• Polarimeters
• Magnetometer
• Plasma Traps
• Electrostatic Analyser
• Gamma-ray Spectrometer
• Radio-probe

OPERATION:

   Mars 4 was carried by Proton-K rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 18:55:48 UTC on 25th July 1973. First three stages of Proton-K successfully placed Mars-4 in low earth orbit. Fourth Stage (Block-D) placed Mars-4 into heliocentric orbit. On 2 February 1974 the spacecraft was successfully inserted into Martian Orbit.. Several Earlier missions of Russia (Roscosmos) results in failure of missions starting from Mars 1M No.1, 1M No.2, 2MV-4 No.1, 2MV-4 No.2 (Mars 1), 2MV-3 No.1, 2M No.521, 2M No.522, Kosmos 419 (3MS No.170), Mars 2 lander and Prop-M Rover. Only Mars2 and Mars 5 was mostly successful.

 

MISSION OUTCOMES:

• It stopped functioning on 28th February 1974
• It returned 180 photographs, 43 of which were good quality and usable. 

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Mars 4 Orbiter | 3MS No.52S

Mars 4 Orbiter

Mars 3MS No.52S alternatively called Mars 4 Orbiter was a soviet spacecraft intended to explore Mars in early 1973. Mars 4 was intended to enter mars orbit around 1974.But the computer problems prevented the orbital insertion.This spacecraft was built by Lavochkin. Mars 4 was the first two 3MS spacecraft launched to Mars in 1973. Other launches in the same window was Kosmos 419 orbiter, 3MP Mars 6, 3MP Mars 7.It carried an array of instruments to study Mars.Some of the Mars 4 instruments were:

 INSTRUMENTS CARRIED:

• Mars Camera
• Radio Telescope
• IR Radiometer
• Multiple photometer
• Polarimeters
• Magnetometer
• Plasma Traps
• Electrostatic Analyser
• Gamma-ray Spectrometer
• Radio-probe

OPERATION:

Proton-K Carrying Mars-4

   Mars 4 was carried by Proton-K rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 19:30:59 UTC on 21st July 1973. First three stages of Proton-K successfully placed Mars-4 in low earth orbit. Fourth Stage (Block-D) placed Mars-4 into heliocentric orbit. But during the manoevres course correction on 30th July 1973, two on board computers failed which results in the failure of orbital entry. Several Earlier missions of Russia (Roscosmos) results in failure of missions starting from Mars 1M No.1, 1M No.2, 2MV-4 No.1, 2MV-4 No.2 (Mars 1), 2MV-3 No.1, 2M No.521, 2M No.522, Kosmos 419 (3MS No.170), Mars 2 lander and Prop-M Rover. Only Mars2 was mostly successful.

 

MISSION OUTCOMES:

• A small amount of data was collected during close approach on 10th February 1974 (1,844 kilometers)
• The Mission failed because it failed to perform orbital insertion.

 

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Mars 3 Orbiter

     Mars 2 and Mars 3 were similar spacecraft sent to mars in early 1971 by Russian Scientists. Both mission carried descent landers and launched with an interval of 9 days. Mars 2 orbiter and lander on 19 May 1971, Mars 3 orbiter and lander on 28 May 1971. Both the orbiter mission was mostly successful returning images back to earth, but the lander mission was failed due to communication lost ( which may have been caused by Martian giant dust storms).

MARS 3 LANDER

     At first, to design the lander was complex system and how to land lander safely to the mars atmosphere. Finally the lander design and project was undertaken by Viking project specialists of America in 1975. Due to the lack of data about Martian atmosphere Ballistic descent was chosen for the Project-M71.The Mars 3 landing design was completed. The lander was launched on 28 May 1971 with Proton-K rocket (Block-D upper stage)

LANDING:

After few months of travel to Mars, it was successfully inserted to Martian orbit on 2 December 1971 and the descent lander was released form orbiter on 2 Dec 1971 at 09:14 UT 4 hours 35 minutes before reaching mars.Through aerodynamic breaking, parachutes and retrorockets it successfully landed on Mars and began its operations. After 14.5 seconds its transmission from both channels was stopped between earth and the lander and resulted in lander mission failure. This failure may be caused due to powerful dust storms in Martian Surface.

M71-LANDER TECHNICAL DETAILS:

1. Instrument of automatic control system
2. Nitrogen Container
3. Breaking Cone
4. Radar-altimeter antenna
5. Parachute instrument module
6. Antenna ( for communication with Martian Satellite)
7. Parachute Auxiliary engine
8. Joint frame
9. Engine that initiates landing
10. Engine that controls Pitch and Yaw of lander
11. Main Parachute
12. Container of Scientific Instruments
13. Automatic Martian Station
14. Instruments of the automatic control system
15. Engine for the parachute with drawal
16. Propulsion system for landing
17. Nitrogen container for control system

 OUTCOMES:

• Mars 3 was successful sending data from December 1971 to March 1972
• Both the orbiters combined and sent 6o images, which revealed the presence of 22km high mountain, oxygen and hydrogen in upper atmosphere.
• It found Surface temperature of -110 to 13 deg C, Pressure 6 millibar.
• It discovered the giant dust storm prevails to an altitude of 7 to 8 km.
• It gave more information on Martian gravity and Magnetic fields

 

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Mars 2

DESCRIPTION:

     Mars 2 Orbiter along with Mars 2 Lander together called Mars 2 Mission. It was unmanned mission sent to Mars by Soviet Russia in Early 1971. Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions were similar to each other, both consisting of Orbiter and a Lander. The got their design from a spacecraft called Venera9. This probe almost reached Mars but it was deployed.

ORBITER:

     The spacecraft's engine burned to place it into Martian Orbit for about 18 hours, engines were started after 30 minutes near periapsis.

OBJECTIVES:

     The objectives of Mars 2 Mission were

• To image Martian Surface and Clouds [Mars 2 Images]                         
• To determine the surface temperature of Mars
• To study Topography, composition and physical properties of surface
• To measure properties and composition of Atmosphere
• To monitor Solar Wind and Interplanetary Magnetic fields
• To Act as communication relay between earth and the lander

MISSION BARRIER:

     Mars 2 mission was particularly affected by large dust storm. Due to this dust storm, atmosphere of Mars became thick, this observation were noticed by Mariner 9 Spacecraft which successfully orbited mars in 14 November of 1971. Both Mars 2 and Mars 3 were unable to program their computer due to the dust storm which dispatched their lander immediately. Landers were affected by dust storm and resulted in mission failure.

OUTCOMES:

• Mars 2 was successful sending data from December 1971 to March 1972
• Both the orbiters combined and sent 6o images, which revealed the presence of 22km high mountain, oxygen and hydrogen in upper atmosphere.
• It found Surface temperature of -110 to 13 deg C, Pressure 6 millibar.
• It discovered the giant dust storm prevails to an altitude of 7 to 8 km.
• It gave more information on Martian gravity and Magnetic fields

FURTHER REFERENCE

1. Mars 2 Mission Images (Soviet Mars Image Catalog) 
2. NASA Mars Mission Website

BOOKS ON MARS 2 AND MARS 3:

     Destination Mars, Pyle Rod (2012) ISBN 978-1-61614-589-7 [PDF]

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Mars 96

          Mars 8 otherwise called Mars 96 which was launched by the Russian Space Forces to Mars in 1996. This spacecraft was programmed based on the Phobos Probes of Mars 1988. It was very ambitious mission at that time. This mission included an orbiter, Surface Stations and Surface penetrators. Mars 96 had many scientific instruments provided by the European countries.

AIM:  The prime aim of this mission was to understand the evolutionary history of formation of Martian surface, atmosphere and interior structure of planet mars.

ORBITER DESIGN: Mars 96 was similar to the model and design of Phobos orbiters. Its body had high gain antenna and low gain antenna for communications. Two solar panel at the side is set for the power source. It also had two surface stations and two penetrators for fuel propulsion system. The total mass of Mars 96 spacecraft was 6,180 kg.

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS: 

1) ARGUS TV Camera

2) PAIS Camera

3) HRSC - High Resolution Stereoscopic Camera

4) WAOSS - Wide-Angle Stereoscopic TV-Camera

5) OMEGA - Visible and Infrared mapping Spectrometer

6) PFS - Planetary Fourier Spectrometer

7) TERMOSCAN - Mapping Radiometer

8) SVET - High Resolution Mapping Spectrometer

9) SPICAM - Multi-channel Optical Spectrometer

10) UVS-M - Ultraviolet Spectrometer

11) LWR - Long Wave Radar

12) PHOTON - Gamma-ray Spectrometer

13) NEUTRON-S - Neutron Spectrometer

14) MAK - Quadruple Mass Spectrometer

15) ASPERA - Energy mass ion spectrograph and Neutral particle imager

16) FONEMA - Fast Omnidirectional Non-scanning ion energy-mass analyzer

17) DYMIO - Omnidirectional ionospheric Mass spectrometer

18) MARIPROB - Ionospheric Plasma Spectrometers

19) MAREMF - Electrostatic Analyzer and Magnetometer

20) ELISMA - Solar wind monitor

21) SLED - Low Energy Charged Particle Spectrometer

22) PGS - Precision Gamma Spectrometer

23) LILAS-2 - Research of Cosmic and Solar Gamma-ray Bursts

24) EVRIS - Investigation of oscillations in stars

25) SOYA - Solar Oscillation Photometer

26) RADIUS-M - Radiation Control Complex

INSTRUMENTS IN SURFACE STATION:

27) MIS - Meteorology Instrument System

28) DPI - Descent Phase Instrument

29) ALPHA - Alpha-particle, photon, X-ray Spectrometer

30) OPTIMISM - Magnetometer and Seismometer

31) DesCam - Descent Phase Camera

32) PanCam - Panormic Camera

33) MOx - Mars oxidant Experiment

34) MAPEx - Microelectronic and Photonic experiment

INSTRUMENTS IN PENETRATOR: 

35) TVS- Television Camera

36) MECOM METEO SET - Meteorological Measurement

37) PEGAS GAMMA - Spectrometer

38) ANGSTREM - X-ray Spectrometer

39) ALPHA ALPHA-P - Spectrometer

40) NEUTRON NEUTRON-P - Spectrometer

41) GRUNT - Accelerometer

42) TERMOZOND - Physical study of Martian Rocks

43) KAMERTON -  Seismometer

44) IMAP-6 - Magnetometer

 TRAVEL AND LANDING:

     It was planned that, after 10 months of space travel towards mars, it will successfully reach Mars on 12th September 1997( Approx). Before five days they will release the two surface penetrators and staions to land. But the mission resulted in Failure.

CONCLUSION: 

     Mars 96 was unsuccessful because of the malfunction of Proton K/D upper stage ignition. It re-entered into the earth's atmosphere and the spacecraft debris fell into the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes it was believed that its plutonium fuel was responsible for the spacecraft failure itself. Mars 96 was a huge spacecrafts which carried nearly 44-45 scientific instruments. Later on, all the missions to mars was constructed based on the scientific plan of Mars 96. For Example: Mars Express

DETAILED INFORMATION:

    Click this link: Mars 96 Orbiter and Penetrators

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Mars Climate Orbiter

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Mars Express

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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is an american spacecraft designed to conduct multiple experiment for the exploration of Mars. It was designed under the supervision of NASA Project director Lookheed Martin ( Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and it was controlled by California Institute of Technology,USA. It was launched on 12 August 2005 from Cape Canaveral Air force station and reached mars orbit on 10 March 2010. It became one of the five active mission on Mars (2001 Mars odyssey, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Express, Mars Exploration Rovers ( Twin Rovers = Spirit and Opportunity). It became the best relay satellite for the measurement of weather monitoring, choose site for future landing missions and an intermediate to communicate between the Mars Exploration Rovers and Earth. It carried many scientific instruments such as radars, spectrometers to study mars. It is listed as one of the currently active mission on Mars. It completed its 50,000th orbit around Mars on 27 March 2017.

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Mariner 9

Mariner 9 was an unmanned spacecraft launched towards Mars. It was one of the mission of Mariner Program. Mariner 8 and Mariner 9 together called Mariner Mars 71 project. In which Mariner 8 failed to orbit whereas Mariner 9 successfully orbited the Mars. It became the first orbiter to orbit around Mars. It was designed and Manufactured by Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

MISSION START:

     Mariner 9 was launched on 30 May 1971 at 22:23:04 UTC from Cape Canaveral. It greatly contributed to the exploration of Mars. It was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet after the unsuccessful of Soviet Mars 2 and Mars 3. It took clear images of Mars and its dust storms which prevailed there for a month.

OBJECTIVES:

     1) It was designed to study Martian atmosphere left by Mariner 6 and 

     2) Infrared spectrometer was installed to detect heat sources (Volcanic activities)

     3) To study temporal changes in the Martian atmosphere

     4) To study and analyse two martian moons (Phobos and Deimos)

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED:

     1) Ultraviolet Spectrometer

     2) Infrared Infterferometer Spectrometer

     3) Celestial Mechanics

     4) S-Band occultation ( for communication)

     5) Infrared Radiometer

     6) Visual Imaging System

TECHNICAL DETAILS:

     1) Spacecraft frame was made with Magnesium frame

     2) It had four solar panels which could produce a power of 500 watts

     3) Power was stored in 20-ampere Nickel-Cadmium Battery

     4) Propulsion was provided by Gimbaled-engine (1340 N of thrust)

     5) Propellant was monomethy hydrazine and nitrogen tetraoxide

     6) Attitude control was provided by Sun sensor, a Canopus tracker, Gyroscopes, inertial reference unit

     7) Command systems = 86 direct, 4 Quantitative and 5 Control commands

     8) Data was stored in Reel-reel tape recorder of 180 million bits

     9) Telecommunication done via dual S-band 10-20W transmitters through low,high and omni-directional            antenna

RESULTS:

1.     It discovered thick atmosphere with planet-wide robe of dust, largest storm.
2.  Photograph contributed to the discover of Volcanoes on Mars (Tharis Bulge)
3.  Photograph showed the creators, ice caps, volcanoes, river beds, Olympus Mons (largest volcano) , water erosion deposits, weather fronts, fogs.
4.  The canyon was renamed Valles Marineries in honour of Mariner 9.

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Mariner 8

Mariner-8 is an American Mars orbiter intended to observe mars and its atmosphere. It was launched on 9 May 1971 and it was carried by Atlas SLV-3C Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral air force station. But the launch failure prevented the spacecraft to reach earth orbit. This mission resulted in launch failure and the spacecraft felt in Atlantic Ocean.

DUAL MISSION:

     The project (Mariner-8) was also called Mariner Mars 71 project. It consist of two American Spacecraft Mariner-H and Mariner-I. Both orbiters intended to orbit around mars for many objectives.

OBJECTIVES:

     1) To measure atmospheric Density

     2) To measure atmospheric Pressure

     3) To measure atmospheric Composition

     4) To measure Temperature

     5) To measure Topography of Martian Surface

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED:

     1) Wide-narrow angle Television Cameras

     2) Infrared Radiometer

     3) Ultra-voilet Spectrometer

     4) Infrared Inferometer Spectrometer  

TECHNICAL DETAILS:

     1) Spacecraft frame was made with Magnesium frame

     2) It had four solar panels which could produce a power of 500 watts

     3) Power was stored in 20-ampere Nickel-Cadmium Battery

     4) Propulsion was provided by Gimbaled-engine (1340 N of thrust)

     5) Propellant was monomethy hydrazine and nitrogen tetraoxide

     6) Attitude control was provided by Sun sensor, a Canopus tracker, Gyroscopes, inertial reference unit

     7) Command systems = 86 direct, 4 Quantitative and 5 Control commands

     8) Data was stored in Reel-reel tape recorder of 180 million bits

     9) Telecommunication done via dual S-band 10-20W transmitters through low,high and omni-directional            antenna 

RESULT:

     Spacecraft failed to orbit due to launch failure

REASON FOR FAILURE:

     Launch failure due to improper ignition of Centaur stage 365 seconds after launch due to starvation by tumbling.

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