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TsNIIMash projects Earliest Soviet studies of possible missions beyond the Mars orbit were initiated at the end of the 1960s in the 12th Department of TsNIIMash, the leading research institution of the Soviet rocket industry. This work coincided with (and possibly it was influenced by) NASA projects, which eventually led to Pioneer-10-11 and Voyager 1-2 missions. At TsNIIMash, the 12th Department, also known as Department of Spacecraft, was responsible for conceptualizing the ideas, which could be adopted for development by the industry, providing government funding. Dr. Lev Golovin led the department at the time. During the second half of the 1960 and beginning of the 1970s, Golovin's group put forward a number of ambitious proposals for unmanned missions to planets, including Mercury and Jupiter, along with the project of a manned expedition to Mars, a lunar base and a big orbital station in the Earth orbit. In the course of this work, a number of scaled models of the hardware was built to represent the concepts developed at TsNIIMash. Despite a common misconception that these models had been used for testing, veterans of TsNIIMash insisted that they were no more than promotional materials prepared for the meetings of high-ranking officials at the Ministry of General Machine Building, which from 1966 oversaw the Soviet rocket industry. Lavochkin projects During 1986 and 1987, Vladimir Perminov, a leading developer of interplanetary probes at Lavochkin design bureau in Moscow prepared a Scientific and Technical Report, NTO, on the possibility of unmanned missions to Jupiter, Saturn and Sun. The report considered possible designs of the spacecraft, its trajectories and other engineering issues of the project. Based on this work, Lavochkin launched a preliminary study (NIR) code-named Tsiolkovsky with a primary goal of sending an unmanned probe toward the Sun. The spacecraft would be powered by Radioisotope Thermal Generators (RTG), which use radioactive plutonium to produce electrical power onboard. A large four-meter antenna would be used to transmit data from the spacecraft to the ground control stations. A major requirement for the project was the probe's ability to fly within five or seven of the Sun's radiuses. In order to survive the tremendous heat reaching this distance from the Sun, engineers proposed two alternative shapes for the spacecraft body -- one as a narrow cone and another as a disc. In both cases, narrow edges of the craft would face the Sun, thus reducing the effect of the heat. With all protective measures in place, the temperature of the probe surfaces was still expected to reach 2,500 degrees C. A special thermal protection made of vanadium was designed to shield the probe's internal systems. According to the plan, in 1995-96, the Proton rocket would send a two-ton spacecraft toward Jupiter, where the planet's powerful gravity field would "sling shot" the probe back toward the Sun in the so-called gravity-assisted maneuver. As it was passing Jupiter, cameras onboard the spacecraft were expected to conduct observations of the giant planet and its moons, while a descent capsule with science instruments would be dropped into Jupiter's atmosphere. The capsule, with the maximum weight of 500 kilograms, was expected to experience the acceleration of 1,500 g during its descent into the atmosphere of Jupiter. Following the Jupiter flyby, the craft would continue on toward the Sun. A derivative of the spacecraft could be also sent toward Saturn and beyond. To simulate the loads expected during the descent in the Jovian atmosphere, NPO Lavochkin design bureau had constructed a special centrifuge on its premises in Moscow. However, the spacecraft itself had never gone beyond a development stage, as federal funds for space program started evaporating at the turn of the 1990s. Post-Soviet plans for deep-space spacecraft After a long hiatus caused by economic problems of the post-Soviet period, NPO Lavochkin's engineers could at least dream again about deep-space missions. In August 2007, management of the company revealed plans for a number of missions beyond Earth orbit, including the Asteroid-Grunt and Kometa-Grunt projects, which could collect soil samples from an asteroid and a comet respectively. Both probes would be based on the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, then scheduled for launch in 2009. Beyond already approved Federal Space Program until 2020, NPO Lavochkin drafted plans for yet-to-be funded missions in the outer reaches of the Solar System. Preliminary plans for a lander or a penetrator mission to Jupiter's moon Europa were under discussion between European and Russian officials. It could take off as early as 2017. Recent NPO Lavochkin publications also described several possible concepts of planetary missions, including:
The actual implementation of these missions would depend on the success of the initial Russian attempts to jump-start its planetary exploration program, level of funding of the Russian space program and the ability of Russian scientists to forge cooperative agreements with their colleagues abroad. Russian scientists propose mission to "tag" dangerous asteroid Published: 2008 June 27 Like a potential criminal tagged with a GPS bracelet, the Earth-threatening space rock could be fitted with a tracking device, helping to watch its orbital movement with unquestionable precision, Russian scientists said. According to RIA Novosti news agency, a team at NPO Lavochkin, the chief-developer of the nation’s planetary spacecraft, proposed an unmanned mission, which could place a radio beacon on the surface of the asteroid 2004 MN4 Apophis. The 350-meter space boulder, discovered in 2004, is expected to pass as close as 36,000 kilometers from Earth in 2029 and, according to some estimates, the gravitational pool of our planet could put it on a collision course with Earth in 2036. NPO Lavochkin proposal was prepared for a Moscow conference, marking 100th anniversary of the infamous Tunguska event on June 30, 1908, which is believed to be the largest space object hitting the Earth in modern history. Russian scientists argue that in order to rule out the possibility of Apophis colliding with the Earth, the space rock’s orbit should be tracked with the accuracy of dozens of meters. It could be achieved only with a transponder anchored to the asteroid, as even the most powerful radio-telescopes on Earth can not track such a small body precisely enough, the authors of the report said. To accomplish the mission, NPO Lavochkin proposes to use a spacecraft platform the company developed for the Phobos-Grunt project. This mission, officially scheduled for launch in 2009, aims to land on the surface of the Martian moon Phobos and return its soil samples to Earth. NPO Lavochkin representatives believe that the Phobos-Grunt satellite bus could be used with minimal modifications for the mission to Apophis. The proposed flight scenario targets May 13, 2012, as its launch date and a rendezvous with the asteroid 330 days (or 11 months) later. Authors of the report called for including the Apophis mission into the Russian Federal Space Program, emphasizing a high international prestige of such project. Although the Apophis mission would rely on existing technology and require relatively modest funding, the achieving the 2012 launch date would not be realistic, observers note. According to sources familiar with the matter, the much more technically challenging Phobos-Grunt project currently faces a delay to 2011. As Russia’s flagship planetary mission that has been in the making since 1990s, Phobos-Grunt would have to be grounded to enable the launch to Apophis in 2012. Critics mostly dismissed the proposal for the Apophis mission as either a face-saving ploy in the possible move to cancel Phobos-Grunt, or as another unachievable project in the advertised timeframe. On June 30, Russian space agency, Roskosmos, released a statement clarifying the fact that the mission to Apophis was a "independent separate" project and rejected claims about changing goals of the Phobos-Grunt mission. As NASA resumed its exploration of Mercury with the Messenger mission in 2008, Moscow-based Space Research Institute, IKI, also revisited this exotic destination in the Solar System. According to IKI, a three-phase study, NIR, of the Mercury-Landing Module, MPM, had been evaluated "scientific and technical proposals for the science goals and equipment for the exploration of the planet's surface. The study showed the possibility of development of a small automated lander, MAS, and compiled a preliminary list of scientific instruments to be installed onboard. IKI studied the possibility of "recycling" hardware developed for the Phobos-Grunt project, as well as for MetNet, Mars-96 and Solar Sail spacecraft. Scientists also proposed a number of upgrades of the hardware. A proposed flight scenario for the mission included the insertion of the spacecraft into the orbit around Mercury and the delivery of a lander on its surface. The mission concept took advantage of previous experience of NPO Lavochkin design bureau in the development of small landers and the Phobos-Grunt project. The study formulated basic requirements for the systems of the lander. IKI also analyzed trajectories to reach Mercury and selected an orbit around the planet, from which the landing attempt would be made. Various launch vehicles for the mission had been analyzed. The study also formulated requirements for two types of missions, one of which would aim to achieve only the most minimal goals. In the course of the study, IKI drafted technical assignments for the development of scientific payloads and the propulsion system of the lander. According to IKI, the completed work paved the way to the development of other systems onboard the lander and possibly the manufacturing of mockups of the scientific instruments. According to the head of the Russian space agency, Anatoly Perminov, during Paris Air and Space Show in Le Bourget in June 2009, Roskosmos and ESA planned to sign an agreement on cooperation on Russian involvement in Europe's Bepi Colombo mission to Mercury. Previous plans to launch Bepi Colombo onboard the Soyuz-2 rocket from its launch complex in Kourou had to be dropped, as the spacecraft's thermal control system brought it beyond the capabilities of the Russian rocket. However along with the move to the Ariane-5 launcher, the opportunities opened for the direct Russian-European cooperation on the mission. Under the deal, the Institute of Space Research, IKI, in Moscow would deliver instruments for the European orbiter within Bepi Colombo project. According to the project scientists, European Space Agency, ESA, was expected to finalize the mission design in October 2009.
Page author: Anatoly Zak; Last update: June 20, 2009 All rights reserved |
PICTURE GALLERY
Artist rendering of the Soviet spacecraft for the exploration of Jupiter. Note two radioisotope generators on both sides of the spacecraft. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak
Concept of the spacecraft for the missions to Venus and Mercury. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak
Concept of the Mars probe. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak
Even the most powerful telescopes on Earth can see Apophis only as a tiny speck of light. Credit: Osservatorio Astronomico Sormano
Europe's Bepi Colombo spacecraft could potentially bring Russian hardware to Mercury for the first time. Click to enlarge. Copyright © 2009 Anatoly Zak |
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