October is the month of space travel.
On October 4, 1957, the royal "seven" carried Sputnik-1 into the velvet-black sky of Baikonur, opening the Space Age in the history of our civilization. More than half a century has passed since then - what success has modern cosmonautics been able to achieve? How soon will we get to the stars?
I bring to your attention a short story about the most difficult, interesting and exciting interplanetary expeditions of Mankind. The review deliberately does not include the American landing on the moon - there is no need to stir up a senseless dispute, everyone will still have their own opinion. In any case, the greatness of lunar expeditions pales before the exploits of automatic interplanetary probes and the people who had a hand in creating this amazing technique.
Cassini - Huygens
Developers - NASA, European Space Agency
Launch - October 15, 1997
The goal is to study Venus and Jupiter from a flyby trajectory. Entry into the orbit of Saturn, landing of the Huygens probe on Titan.
Current status - mission extended until 2017.
On that fateful night, we slept peacefully and did not know that the 5-ton interplanetary station Cassini was flying over our heads. Launched in the direction of Venus, she, two years later, returned to Earth, gaining by that time a speed of 19 km / s (relative to the Earth). The worst thing is that Cassini had 32.8 kg of weapon-grade plutonium on board, which was necessary for the operation of three radioisotope RTGs (due to the great distance from the Sun, it was impossible to use solar batteries in Saturn's orbit).
Fortunately, the gloomy forecasts of ecologists did not come true - the station calmly passed at a distance of 1200 km from the planet and, having received a gravitational impulse, set off towards Jupiter. There she once again received acceleration and three years later, on July 1, 2004, she safely entered the orbit of Saturn.
The "star number" of the entire mission was the separation and landing of the Huygens probe on Titan.
The largest moon of Saturn is larger than the planet Mercury and is surrounded by a powerful shell of gas, which has long attracted the attention of earth scientists. The average surface temperature is minus 170-180 ° С, but the simplest forms of life could well have developed in underground reservoirs - spectrometers show the presence of hydrocarbons in Titan's clouds.
Well, let's see how everything turned out in reality …
… "Huygens" flew into the orange abyss until it splashed into soft mud on the shore of a methane lake with floating ice floes of frozen ammonia. The nightmarish landscape was complemented by slanting jets of methane rain.
Titan became the fourth celestial body, on the surface of which an object created by human hands sank.
On this distant planet
Cold and dark greeted us.
Slowly drove me crazy
Fog and piercing wind.
Panoramas of Titan from a height of several kilometers and at the landing site of the Huygens probe. In total, the probe managed to transfer 474 megabytes of various information, including several sound files. By clicking on the following link, you can hear the sound of the wind in the atmosphere of a distant celestial body:
As for the Cassini station itself, the probe is still working in orbit of Saturn - the most amazing plans are being made for its further use: from sending Cassini to Uranus, Neptune or Kuiper belt objects to putting the probe on a collision path with Mercury. The possibility of flying through the rings of Saturn is also being discussed, and if the probe does not break on ice debris, experts suggest continuing the fatal flight by jumping into the upper atmosphere of Saturn.
The official version provides for less daring maneuvers - the transfer of the device into an elongated orbit and the continuation of the mission to study the surroundings of the giant planet.
Vega
Developer - Soviet Union
Launch - December 15, 1984 (Vega-1), December 21, 1984 (Vega-2)
The goal is to study Venus and Halley's comet.
Current state - the project has been successfully completed.
One of the most challenging and exciting space expeditions to the world of monstrous heat and eternal darkness.
In December 1984, two Soviet stations left Baikonur to meet the stars - five-ton devices of the Vega series. Each had an extensive scientific program, which included the study of Venus from a flyby trajectory, as well as the separation of the lander, which, decelerated in the atmosphere of Venus, was divided into two research modules - a sealed lander made of the strongest steel and a fantastic balloon for studying the planet's atmosphere.
Despite its alluring brilliance in the hour before dawn, the Morning Star is a hellish brazier enveloped in a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere heated to 500 ° Celsius. At the same time, the pressure on the surface of Venus reaches 90-100 terrestrial atmospheres - as in the ocean at a depth of 1 kilometer! The lander of the Vega station worked in such conditions for 56 minutes - until the terrible heat burned through the thermal protection and destroyed the fragile filling of the probe.
Panorama transmitted by one of the stations of the Venera series
The balloon probes lasted longer - at an altitude of 55 km above the surface of Venus, the atmospheric parameters look quite adequate - the pressure is 0.5 Earth atmospheres, the temperature is + 40 ° C. The duration of the operation of the probes was about 46 hours. During this time, each of the balloons flew in the streams of a raging hurricane 12,000 km over the surface of Venus, controlling the temperature, pressure, illumination, visibility and speed of movement of air masses along the flight path. Coming to the night side of Venus, the devices got lost among the lightning flashes of the thunderstorm front.
The Venus probes died, and the Vega mission was far from over - the flight stages of the probes, after separating the landing modules, entered heliocentric orbit and continued their journey in outer space. All the circumstances were going well. Ahead was a meeting with Halley's comet.
A year later, in March 1986, both vehicles passed at a distance of only 8030 and 8890 km from the nucleus of the famous comet, transferring 1,500 images and a lot of scientific information, including data on the rate of evaporation of matter from the ice surface of the nucleus (40 tons / second).
The approach speed of the comet and the Vega spacecraft exceeded 70 km / s - if the probes were only one hour late, they would have deviated from the target by 100 thousand km. The situation was complicated by the impossibility of predicting the trajectory of the comet with the required accuracy - during the days of approaching the space fugitive, 22 observatories and the USSR Astrophysical Institute continuously calculated the course of Halley's comet in order to bring Vega as close as possible to its nucleus.
Currently, both Vega vehicles are still drifting inactive in heliocentric orbit.
MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging)
Developer - NASA
Launch - August 3, 2004
The goal is to enter the orbit of Mercury.
The current state is the mission is active.
Never before has any of the spacecraft moved along such a bizarre trajectory: during its flight, the Messenger made six gravitational maneuvers, alternately approaching the Earth (once), Venus (twice) and Mercury (three times). Despite the apparent proximity of this planet, the flight to Mercury took six and a half years!
The elusive Mercury is one of the most inaccessible celestial bodies. A very high orbital speed - 47.87 km / s - requires huge energy inputs to compensate for the difference in the speed of a spacecraft launched from Earth (the orbital speed of our planet is "only" 29.8 km / s). As a result, to enter the orbit of Mercury, it was required to gain an "extra" 18 km / s! None of the modern launch vehicles and booster blocks was able to give the device the required speed - extra kilometers-per-second were gained due to gravitational maneuvers in the vicinity of celestial bodies (this explains such a complex trajectory of the probe).
The Messenger became the first of the spacecraft that became an artificial satellite of Mercury (before that our acquaintance with this planet was limited to the data of the Mariner-10 probe, which flew near Mercury three times in 1974-75)
One of the main dangers of the Messenger expedition is overheating - in the orbit of Mercury, the intensity of solar radiation is more than 10 kilowatts per square meter. meter!
To protect it from the unbearable heat of a nearby star, the probe was equipped with a 2.5x2 meter heat shield. In addition, the device is wrapped in a multilayer "fur coat" of thermal insulation with a developed system of radiators - but even this is hardly enough to radiate excess heat into space during a short night when the probe is hiding in the shadow of Mercury.
At the same time, proximity to the Sun gives its advantages: two short, 1.5-meter "wings" of solar panels are enough to provide the probe with energy. But even their power turned out to be excessive - the batteries are capable of generating more than 2 kW of electricity, while 640 watts are enough for the normal operation of the probe.
Hayabusa ("Falcon")
Developer - Japan Space Agency
Launch - May 9, 2003
Purpose - research of asteroid 25143 Itokawa, delivery of asteroid soil samples to Earth.
Current status - mission completed on June 13, 2010.
The success of this mission hung literally by a thread: the solar flare damaged the solar panels, the cosmic cold disabled two of the three gyroscopes of the probe, at the first attempt to approach the asteroid, the Japanese lost the Minerva mini-robot - the baby ricocheted off the surface and flew into outer space … Finally, during the second rendezvous, the on-board computer malfunctioned - the Hayabusa hit the surface of a celestial body, damaged the ion engine and lost its orientation.
Despite such glaring setbacks, the Japanese space agency did not lose hope of returning the probe to Earth. The specialists restored communication and orientation of the spacecraft, rebooted the on-board computer. In February 2009, they managed to start the ion engine and send the device towards Earth with the final maneuver.
The 510-kg probe Hayabusa enters the dense layers of the atmosphere at a speed of 12.2 km / s. Woomera test site, Australia
On June 13, 2010, a capsule with microscopic soil particles was safely delivered to Earth. Asteroid 25143 Itokawa became the fifth celestial body on the surface of which a spacecraft, created by human hands, visited. And the brave Japanese Falcon is the sixth spacecraft that delivered samples of matter from space to Earth (after Luna-16, Luna-20, Luna-24, as well as the Genesis and Stardust vehicles).
Returned to Earth capsule with asteroid particles
Voyager
Developer - NASA
Launch - August 20, 1977 (Voyager 2), September 5, 1977 (Voyager 1)
The goal is to study the systems of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune from a flyby trajectory. The mission has been extended to study the properties of the interstellar medium.
The current state is that the mission is active, the vehicles have reached the borders of the solar system and continue their endless path in space. It is planned to keep in touch with them as long as possible.
I am horrified by the eternal silence of these spaces. / Blaise Pascal /
In the early 1970s, the US Congress, shuddering under the blows of the economic crisis, nearly screwed up a unique space expedition. This happens once every 175 years - all the outer planets line up one after another in the same sector of the sky. Parade of planets!
As a result, the inhabitants of the Earth have a rare opportunity to "ride" throughout the solar system and visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune during one expedition. At the same time, to do this along the most favorable trajectory - the gravitational field of each of the giant planets will "kick" the probe towards the next target, thereby increasing the probe's speed and reducing the duration of the entire mission to 12 years. Under normal conditions, without the use of gravity assist maneuvers, the path to Neptune would have stretched for 30 years.
However, the congressmen flatly refused to allocate funds for space exploration - the "Grand Tour" expedition was in jeopardy. Distant gas giants will disperse like ships at sea - Uranus and Neptune are sailing around the Sun slowly and will again occupy a position convenient for "interplanetary billiards" only in the middle of the XXII century. Only the trick of the NASA leadership with the renaming of the Mariner 11 and Mariner 12 satellites into the Voyager series, as well as the rejection of two other launches under the Grand Tour program, made it possible to save the program and fulfill the cherished dream of everyone who is interested in space. …
Installation of the head fairing of the Voyager spacecraft, 1977
For 36 years of flight, these devices were lucky enough to see something that even the wildest dreams of science fiction writers cannot compare with.
Space scouts swept over the edge of the clouds of giant planets, inside each of which could fit 300 globes.
They saw volcanic eruptions on Io (one of the "Galilean" moons of Jupiter) and electrical storms in the rings of Saturn - flashes of thousands of kilometers of lightning illuminated the shadow side of the giant planet. An enchanting sight!
Voyager 2 is the first and so far the only Earth probe that has flown in the vicinity of Uranus and Neptune: distant ice worlds, where illumination is 900 times less than in Earth's orbit, and the average surface temperature is kept within minus 214 ° Celsius. For the first time, the probe saw a phenomenon absolutely impossible in terrestrial conditions - cryovolcanism. Instead of hot lava, volcanoes from distant worlds spewed liquid methane and ammonia.
Voyager 1 transmitted an image of the Earth from a distance of 6 billion kilometers - Mankind was able to look at the Solar System from the side, outside the plane of the ecliptic.
On August 25, 2012, the Voyager 1 probe recorded the sound of wind in the interstellar medium for the first time, becoming the first man-made object to go beyond the solar system.
Jupiter's "Great Red Spot" is an atmospheric vortex that has been raging for hundreds of years. Its dimensions are such that the Earth could easily fit inside the mole. Unlike us, snug in a chair at a safe distance, Voyager saw this nightmarish cyclone up close!
Volcanic eruption on Io
Neptune's satellite Triton through the eyes of Voyager 2. Short dark stripes - emissions of cryovolcanoes on the surface of the satellite
In the scientific literature, they no longer hesitate to call the Voyagers starships - both spacecraft have gained third space speed and will certainly reach the stars. When? It doesn't matter for unmanned probes - in 10-15 years the last sparks in their plutonium "hearts" will go out, and time will stop for Voyagers. Sleep forever, they will disappear into the vastness of the stellar ocean.
New Horizons
Developer - NASA
Launch - January 19, 2006
The goal is to study the dwarf planets of the Pluto - Charon system from a flyby trajectory.
Current state - the device will reach the target on June 14, 2015.
What an injustice! Nine long years of flight and only nine days for a close acquaintance with Pluto.
At the time of the closest approach on June 14, 2015, the distance to the planet will be 12,500 km (30 times closer than the distance from the Earth to the Moon).
The meeting will be short: the New Horizons probe will rush past the most mysterious celestial body, still unexplored by spacecraft from Earth, and at a speed of 14, 95 km / s will disappear into interstellar space, becoming the fifth "starship" of Human civilization (after the probes " Pioneer-10, 11 "and" Voyager-1,2 ").
It is still too early to draw any conclusions - the expedition has not reached its final goal. At the same time, the probe does not waste time - with the help of its cameras, spectrometers and detectors of cosmic particles, New Horizons periodically studies oncoming celestial bodies: planets, satellites, asteroids. The equipment is tested regularly, the firmware of the on-board computer is updated.
As of October 2013, the probe is located at a distance of 750 million km from the intended target.
On board the probe, in addition to the 7 most advanced scientific instruments, there is a special "cargo" - a capsule with the ashes of astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto.
You don't need a time machine to look back millions of years - you just need to raise your head and look at the stars.
