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The 1960 and 1962 Soviet Mars Mission Attempts

The 1960 and 1962 Soviet Mars Mission Attempts. by Selby Cull. Korolev. Sent to Kolyma gold mine prison camp during Stalin’s purges, convicted of “subversion in a new field of technology”

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The 1960 and 1962 Soviet Mars Mission Attempts

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  1. The 1960 and 1962 Soviet Mars Mission Attempts by Selby Cull

  2. Korolev

  3. Sent to Kolyma gold mine prison camp during Stalin’s purges, convicted of “subversion in a new field of technology” • the Kolyma prison, in Siberia, had one of the highest death rates among Stalin’s gulags: an average of 200,000 prisoners died there every year--- 30% of the prison’s population • Korolev survived, but lost all his teeth, suffered a broken jaw, nearly died of scurvy, and acquired a serious heart condition that would eventually cause his death.

  4. Leading up to 1960 • 4 October 1957: Sputnik 1 • 1 February 1958: US launches Explorer 1 • Rest of 1958 = bunch of failed lunar missions from both US & USSR • 2 January 1959: Luna 1 • 3 March 1959: Pioneer 4 from US • Rest of 1959 = Luna 2 and Luna 3 and failure of Pioneer P-3 from US

  5. Good Things for Soviets: • Beat Americans by being first into orbit • Beat Americans by being first to the Moon • Beat Americans in number of Moon missions (3 to 1) Khrushchev thinks: why not beat Americans to Mars?

  6. The First Mars Mission • 1960: Khrushchev orders Korolev to produce a fly-by of Mars • UN meeting! • Khrushchev then places Field Marshal Mistrofan Nedelin in charge of the Mars attempt

  7. Marsnik 1 and Marsnik 2

  8. 10 October 1960 • Marsnik 1 launches atop a Sapwood (R-7) rocket • third stage boosters fail • rocket glides up to 120 km then falls back down Failure = due to rocket. Khrushchev = not pleased.

  9. 14 October 1960 • Marsnik 2 launches atop a Sapwood (R-7) rocket • third stage boosters fail • rocket glides up to 120 km then falls back down Failure = due to rocket. Khrushchev = livid.

  10. one more try . . . . • prototype readied • scheduled for launch on 23 October, under enormous political pressure

  11. 23 October 1960 • Those present for launch: • Mikhail Yangel (Korolev’s chief deputy) • General Nikolai Pavlovsky (Deputy Chief of Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces) • Dmitri Yefremov (leader of the Soviet nuclear science program) • Ivan Gvay (one of Russia’s top rocketry experts)

  12. What caused the failures? • Marsnik 1: faulty fuel feed system in Sapwood rocket’s third stage boosters • Marsnik 2: same problem • Third Probe: cause of explosion unknown . . . . but the Sapwood had the same problems as the first two

  13. The MV4 • designed to explore Mars or Venus • heaviest planetary probe at the time (~900 kg) • about the weight of a large buffalo

  14. 24 October 1962 • SL-6 Molniya rocket (pictured left) used to launch the fourth Soviet attempt at a Mars probe • (BTW: Cuban Missile Crisis began 18 October, ended 29 October)

  15. 1 November 1962 • Mars 1 probe launched atop another SL-6 Molniya rocket • Actually left Earth orbit & headed for Mars!

  16. . . . . only to malfunction on 21 March 1963. A breakdown of the probe’s orientation system ended up pointing the transmitters away from Earth, and contact was lost. Mars 1 probably passed by Mars, but there’s no way to know.

  17. 4 November 1962 • Last of the 1962 Mars attempts was launched atop another SL-6 Molniya rocket. It blew up in Earth orbit, and pieces eventually reentered the atmosphere and landed in the ocean

  18. Summary: 1960 and 1962 missions • 1960 • Marsnik 1 = launch failure • Marsnik 2 = launch failure • third probe = exploded on launch pad • 1962 • MV4-1 = blew up in atmosphere • Mars 1 = contact lost en route to Mars • MV4-2 = blew up in atmosphere

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