Mars 96

Mars is a 96 in November 1996 failed, Russian Mars mission.

The mission was originally planned by the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, although the planetary space program of Russia has been deleted, with strong participation of the European Space Agency ( ESA) but was still a Russian Mars mission will be financed, "Mars 94 ", after some delays, finally, called "Mars 96". After a successful start, the probe had been renamed " Mars 8".

Mission

Mars 96 consisted of an orbiter, two small landing stations and two penetrators ( probes that penetrate deep into the Martian surface on impact ). The spacecraft should arrive at Mars in about ten months flight on 12 September 1997. About four to five days before the arrival of the two landing stations should be released. The orbiter should swing in to a 3 -day transfer orbit and the penetrators should perform a landing during the first month in orbit. Later, the probe should have a elliptical orbit with an orbital period of 14.77 hours and a periapsis of 300 km.

Mars 96 was the largest spacecraft, which had been previously ever built, it weighed 6220 kg at the start and had a size of 3 × 3 × 9 meters in flight configuration. Their design was based on the Fobos - probes from the year 1988.

False start

Mars 96 was launched on November 16, 1996 at 20:48:53 UTC with a Proton-K/Block-D-2 rocket from Baikonur. Up to orbit the start was normal, but failed the second ignition of the fourth stage of the Proton, Block D, which should bring the probe on an interplanetary trajectory. The reasons for the failure are unknown, because the stage was at the time of ignition of the second out of range of the base stations, and therefore there is no telemetry data. The Mars 96 probe still separated after the preset timer from the rocket stage and lit their own engine, which should give it a final push to achieve the transfer orbit to Mars. Since the ignition of the Block D stage had not occurred, it is merely accelerated the Earth's atmosphere and burned up already during the first orbit. The occurrence took place on November 17, 1996 at approximately 00:45 to 1:30 instead of UTC. The probe crashed within a probably 320 km × 80 km from large territory comprised the parts of the Pacific Ocean, Chile and Bolivia. Block D burned up some orbits later.

Some sources, who predicted the re-entry of the plutonium capsules of the Lander, the Block D stage confused with the spacecraft itself, the probe was already burns up, as reports of the imminent demise of the plutonium in Australia or the South Pacific, the world attention attracted. The object was monitored in orbit, was only the fourth stage of the Proton harmless.

Conclusion

Mars 96 was the first and next Fobos -Grunt and Fobus Grunt 2 so far the only planetary space mission in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ESA was the money invested at least partially rescue by the rebuilt replacements of Mars 96 cost for the Mars Express probe. Among them was the German HRSC camera, which flew in 2003 in this more advanced form on Mars Express.