Venera 2MV-1 No.1
First Soviet Venus probe stranded in Earth orbit.
Venera 2MV-1 No.1, known in the West as Sputnik 19, was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1962 under the Venera programme. It was the first of two Venera 2MV-1 spacecraft, both of which failed to leave Earth orbit. Due to a problem with its upper stage, it re-entered the atmosphere a few days after launch.
Quick Facts
- Operator
- OKB-1
- Harvard designation
- 1962 Alpha Pi 1
- Satcat
- 372
- Mission duration
- Launch failure
- Launch mass
- 890 kg / 1,962 lb
- Power
- watts
- Launched
- 25 August 1962, 02:18:45
- Launch rocket
- Molniya 8K78 s/n T103-12
Facts from the source article.
Background
The Soviet Union had launched four 1MV probes during the previous Venus and Mars launch windows, all of which failed before reaching their destinations. OKB-1, the bureau behind Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1, set out to create a more robust design. With the Mars launch window in late 1962 and the Venus window just a month earlier, there was insufficient time to develop separate spacecraft. Sergei Korolev therefore commissioned the multipurpose 2MV design, which would serve both Venus and Mars missions with only slight variations. The 2MV series included two Venus landers (2MV-1 No.1 and No.2), a Venus orbiter (2MV-2), a Mars lander (2MV-3), and two Mars orbiters (2MV-4 No.1 and No.2).
Design
The Venus and Mars versions of the 2MV lander differed significantly because of the contrasting planetary conditions. OKB-1 estimated Venusian atmospheric pressure at 1.5 to 5 bars and temperature at 77°C, though some experts predicted pressures and temperatures as high as 324°C. Consequently, the Venus probe had a robust heat shield and a smaller, lighter parachute than its Mars counterpart. The Venus lander was also designed to float and carried a motion detector to sense wave action, as oceans were thought possible beneath the Venusian clouds. The spacecraft drew power from 2.6 m² of solar cells charging a 165.5 kilocoulomb nickel-cadmium battery at 1.3–2.6 amps. The 90 cm spherical descent capsule weighed 350 kg and was sterilised before launch to avoid contaminating Venus. An ammonia-based cooling system protected the lander. During atmospheric entry, the capsule would orient itself retrograde, with its centre of mass offset from its centre of figure, so the heat shield faced forward. A three-stage parachute system would then slow the descent. Starting in summer 1960, models were launched to 50 km altitude on R-11A sounding rockets to test the design. The Molniya 8K78 rocket, which had achieved one success in four previous launches, received several improvements for the 2MV missions.
Launch
Venera 2MV-1 No.1 launched at 02:18:45 UTC on 25 August 1962 from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Molniya 8K78. The first three stages performed normally, placing the fourth stage and payload into low Earth orbit. After coasting for 1 hour and 50 seconds, the fourth stage fired its ullage motors, but one of the four failed. The resulting asymmetric torque caused the stage to tumble. The main engine ignited for a four-minute burn but cut off after 45 seconds due to fuel slosh, leaving the spacecraft stranded in Earth orbit. It re-entered the atmosphere three days later, on 28 August 1962.
Aftermath
The first Venus launch of the 1962 window, NASA's Mariner 1, failed on 22 July 1962. The Soviets hoped Venera 2MV-1 No.1 would become the first spacecraft to reach Venus, but after its failure, NASA succeeded with Mariner 2 on 27 August. The subsequent Soviet launches—2MV-1 No.2 on 1 September and 2MV-2 No.1 on 12 September—also failed. Mariner 2 performed the first successful Venus flyby on 14 December 1962. By June 1963, OKB-1 had begun work on the next-generation 3MV probes.
More in Space Probes of ESA, Japan, China, India and the USSR
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