Tyazhely Sputnik
Failed Soviet Venus probe announced as a heavy satellite.
Tyazhely Sputnik, also known as Venera 1VA No. 1 and Sputnik 7, was a Soviet spacecraft intended to be the first to explore Venus. It failed to leave low Earth orbit due to an upper stage problem. The Soviet government announced it as a test of a 'Heavy Satellite' to avoid acknowledging the failure.
Quick Facts
- Operator
- Soviet Academy of Sciences
- Harvard designation
- 1961 Beta 1
- Satcat
- 71
- Mission duration
- Launch failure
- Spacecraft
- 1VA No.1
- Manufacturer
- OKB-1
- Dry mass
- 644 kg / 1,420 lb
- Bol mass
- 6,483 kg / 14,293 lb
Facts from the source article.
History
Soviet program planners intended missions to both Mars and Venus on the new 8K78 booster, but effort during 1960 focused mainly on Mars. The Mars 1MV bus could be modified for Venus with heat-insulating foil to protect against inner solar system temperatures, though Earth-based telescopes had shown Venus covered in dense clouds, making photography pointless. A lander remained possible, and the Venus launch window was optimal in January 1961, while the United States was far from attempting a planetary mission. Two Soviet Mars shots in October 1960 failed to reach orbit, shifting effort to Venus probes. The Blok L stage of the 8K78 rocket had not been tested, and starting a rocket engine in space was unprecedented. Testing of the Venus probe at Baikonur began 8 January, but like the Mars probes, it developed endless technical issues difficult to fix or diagnose as large portions had to be dismantled.
Launch
The L1-7V booster was set up on Launch Complex 1 on 1 February. During fueling and prelaunch work, a risky situation emerged when nitrogen leaked from the probe’s orientation system. With the Nedelin disaster still a fresh memory, there was concern that if the engine valves opened, the Blok L stage could ignite on the pad and destroy the entire rocket. Crews used a crane to lift the probe off the stack and cut its power. They discovered that a slight shift while placing the probe had tricked its onboard systems into thinking it had already separated in space, prompting it to attempt a ground communication session. A lock was added to prevent this until the probe was properly stacked. On 3 February, the roll gyro in the Blok I stage failed and had to be swapped out. Tyazhely Sputnik lifted off at 01:18:03 UTC on 4 February 1961 on a Molniya 8K78 rocket from Site 1/5 at Baikonur. The booster flew into the night sky and remained visible for several minutes. All systems performed flawlessly until the moment of orbital insertion. However, tracking ships in the Mediterranean, Pacific, and off West Africa detected no ignition of the Blok L engine. The mission failed because of a design flaw: the PT-200 DC power transformer, which supplied the Blok L guidance system, was not built to operate in a vacuum. It was the heaviest payload ever launched into space at that time, and it was a total loss. TASS publicly called it a test payload. A week later, Soviet air force trackers tried to find the probe and Blok L but failed, as the hardware had already reentered the atmosphere over Siberia on 26 February 1961.
Aftermath
According to the memoirs of Boris Chertok, a pendant shaped like a small globe with continents etched on it was placed on the 1VA. Inside was a medal depicting the Earth-to-Venus flight path, with the emblem of the Soviet Union on the other side. The pendant was placed in a spherical capsule with thermal shielding to protect it during entry into Venus' atmosphere at reentry velocity. Chertok describes a 'Strange but True' incident: while the spacecraft was originally thought to have reentered over the Pacific Ocean, it was subsequently found in 1963 to have reentered over Siberia. A local boy, while swimming in a tributary of the Biryusa River in eastern Siberia, hurt his foot on a piece of iron. He retrieved it from the water and brought it home. His father opened the dented metal sphere and discovered the medal inside. The father brought the find to the police, who delivered the remains to the regional KGB, which forwarded it to Moscow. The appropriate KGB directorate, after notifying Keldysh as president of the Academy of Sciences, delivered the pendant to Chief Rocket Designer Sergei Korolev. Chertok was thus awarded the medal that had been certified for the flight to Venus by the protocol he and Korolev signed in January 1961. The State Commission met 2 hours after launch to decide whether to make the launch public. Kamanin concluded to publicize it as demonstrating the Molniya rocket's ability to deliver an 8 tonne thermonuclear warhead anywhere on the planet. Korolev and others preferred not to make it public to prevent speculation about a reconnaissance satellite or failed manned launch. On 5 February 1961, TASS announced the launch of a 'Heavy Satellite', giving the name 'Tyazhely Sputnik'.
More in Space Probes of ESA, Japan, China, India and the USSR
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