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soviet Mercury mission ?
Hi, i'd like some information please...
Someone told me about a supposed unmanned soviet mission to Mercury launched around late spring-early summer 1973. He said there was even a Mercury impact (i think there might also have been an intended soft landing). Apparently it was part of a series of test in preparation for a then-in-planing human Mars mission, which is why it wasn't publicly revealed. As far as i can tell the spacecraft was supposed to be built by TsNIIMash (1 of 3 of its kind, one being Cosmos 419, and one apparently still in Moscow) and somewhat similar to the Mars 2 & 3, and was launch on a 4 stage Proton. I'm skeptical of all of this because he was very vague & evasive in his information (he claims it's 3rd party from russians he works with, so that would be his "reason"). And i'd think a planetary mission like this would be hard to conceal, and that the soviet wouldn't have missed the publicity of getting to Mercury first, even if they hid the more embarassing crash part. I mean why would the whole mission a secret rather then just the experiments carried out like in other missions around the same time ? It dosen't compute. But still i'm trying to investigate this since the guy does claim to be currently working in the space industry. Does anyone know ANYTHING about this ? Or can point me to any information for or against such a thing at that time. Beause the Mercury year is short, and his launch date so vague, it was hard to determine if that was a good launch period for a transfer orbit. Also, did a proton back in '73 have enough thrust to send a 2t+ spacecraft to Mercury orbit without gravity assist ? I did a few calculations on current ProtonK+BlockDM from some specs i found on google and the deltav seems just high enough, although i was a bit surprised (seeing that Mariner 10 was so much lighter and it used gravity assist). Anyway, i'm just an amateur so i'd be greatful for any kind of enlightment on the subject. Thanks |
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Hex wrote: Hi, i'd like some information please... Someone told me about a supposed unmanned soviet mission to Mercury launched around late spring-early summer 1973. He said there was even a Mercury impact (i think there might also have been an intended soft landing). Apparently it was part of a series of test in preparation for a then-in-planing human Mars mission, which is why it wasn't publicly revealed. Although we might miss a launch failure ( we missed the first N-1 launch attempt) I don't think we have missed a probe once it was in orbit, especially if it was sent on a interplanetary trajectory. It would be sending some sort of radio signals out; and those would stick out like a sore thumb given its trajectory toward Mercury As far as i can tell the spacecraft was supposed to be built by TsNIIMash (1 of 3 of its kind, one being Cosmos 419, and one apparently still in Moscow) and somewhat similar to the Mars 2 & 3, and was launch on a 4 stage Proton. If it's a lander it would tend to resemble the lunar landers more than the Mars ones; they used parachutes as part of their braking system, and that obviously wouldn't work in regards to Mercury. Does anyone know ANYTHING about this ? Or can point me to any information for or against such a thing at that time. Beause the Mercury year is short, and his launch date so vague, it was hard to determine if that was a good launch period for a transfer orbit. Mark Wade's launch chronology would be a good place to start- Here's the part that refers to the timeframe you mentioned: http://www.astronautix.com/chrono/19731.htm http://www.astronautix.com/chrono/19732.htm The only Proton launches I see in that timeframe are Salyut 2 (Almaz-1) on April 3rd, Cosmos 557 (would have been Salyut 2a or 4(?); went out of control in orbit) May 11th, and Mars 4 and 5 on July 21 and 25th respectively. This sounds like something related to Cosmos 557 if any of the above; but that one was a Salyut- either a replacement Salyut 2, or Salyut 4, depending what you read. http://www.astronautix.com/craft/salyut4.htm http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/model...mos%20557.html Pat |
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Pat Flannery wrote in message ...
Hex wrote: Hi, i'd like some information please... Someone told me about a supposed unmanned soviet mission to Mercury launched around late spring-early summer 1973. Snip If it's a lander it would tend to resemble the lunar landers more than the Mars ones; they used parachutes as part of their braking system, and that obviously wouldn't work in regards to Mercury. Agreed, a bigger and better Luna 16 or 17. Does anyone know ANYTHING about this ? Mark Wade's launch chronology would be a good place to start Yes. Here's the part that refers to the timeframe you mentioned: http://www.astronautix.com/chrono/19731.htm http://www.astronautix.com/chrono/19732.htm Thanks, that's a new one to me, will be bookmarked. Snip This sounds like something related to Cosmos 557 if any of the above; but that one was a Salyut- either a replacement Salyut 2, Also see Sven Grahn's page about any manned Soviet program (or chinese for that matter) http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/salyut3/salyut3.htm Regards Carsten Nielsen Denmark |
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