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Zond 2; 1964 // USSR
Topic Started: Friday 31-07-2009, 00:22 (245 Views)
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Mars > Missions > Zond 2 > Index
 
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  1. Index
  2. [go2=missionoverview]Mission overview[/go2]
  3. [go2=spacecraftandinstruments]Spacecraft and instruments[/go2]
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Mars > Missions > Zond 2 > Mission overview
 
Likely objective



Summary

Launch date: 30 november 1964

Mission status: failed

Zond 2 was a soviet probe designed to perform a Mars flyby, and perhaps touch down on the planet, in 1965. Very little is known about it.

Zond 2 was launched and inserted into an Earth parking orbit successfully. However, the first communication session with the probe indicated that power was half of the expected amount, possibly due to one of its solar panels not having deployed properly. It continued its journey towards Mars, making a course correction maneuver in early 1965. The route it took was a very long one, presumably to minimize the lander entry speed when it reached its destination. In april the spacecraft's communication system began to operate irregularly, finally failing completely on 5 may.
Sources: Wikipedia / Zond 2 | Andrew Lepage, The mystery of Zond 2 | NASA / Zond 2
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Mars > Missions > Zond 2 > Spacecraft and instruments
 
Zond 2 consisted of two compartments called the "orbital compartment" and the "planetary compartment".

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The orbital compartment was 1.1 meters in diameter and roughly as much in length. Its interior was pressurized to one atmosphere so the equipment wouldn't suffer from pressure changes and malfunction as a result.

Zond 2 had six new plasma engines which converted a liquid into a plasma and accelerated it to speeds of 100 kilometers per second. The engines were used by the spacecraft for orientation, possibly as a backup for the main attitude control system, since Mars 1 had failed two years earlier due to orientation problems.

The probe also carried a magnetometer, photographic equipment, a spectroreflexometer, radiation counters, a spectrometer and a micrometeoroid sensor.

Above the orbital compartment were a dimethylhydrazine / nitric acid course correction engine and the main attitude control system.

On opposite sides of this compartment were two solar panels which had a total span of 4 meters. The panels were folded during launch and then deployed, one of them unsuccessfully, when the spacecraft had left Earth. At the end of each panel was a hemispherical radiator which controlled the temperature of the orbital compartment.

Also on the side of the compartment and always pointing away from the Sun was a 2-meter parabolic high-gain antenna which was used for long-distance communication. Low-gain antennas were also located on the compartment's exterior.

The planetary compartment held the intruments which would be used to study Mars. It is believed that this compartment was meant to detach from the rest of the probe and land on the planet. If this was the case, evidence suggests that Zond 2 was originally meant to look for signs of life on Mars and that the life-detection instrument was later removed because the probe was overweight and the instrument had failed to give satisfactory results when tested on Earth. In addition, it probably held instruments similar to those inside the Venera 4 Venus entry probe: equipment to measure temperature, atmospheric pressure and density; a gas analyzer to determine atmospheric composition; a parachute to slow down entry; and possibly sensors to determine soil composition.

Zond 2's total height was 3.6 meters, and its mass is believed to have been just under a ton.
Sources: Wikipedia / Zond 2 | Andrew Lepage, The mystery of Zond 2 | NASA / Zond 2
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