| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 439.1 | Deep Space Network to help track PHOBOS 1 and 2 | MTWAIN::KLAES | Know Future | Tue Jul 05 1988 16:38 | 81 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: decwrl!purdue!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!yee
Subject: NASA Deep Space Network to support Soviet Phobos mission (Forwarded)
Posted: 3 Jul 88 15:59:07 GMT
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Charles Redmond
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
July 1, 1988
RELEASE: 88-87
NASA DEEP SPACE NETWORK TO SUPPORT SOVIET PHOBOS MISSION
When the USSR's Phobos 1 spacecraft lifts off for Mars on
Thursday, July 7, it will be headed not only for a landing on the tiny
Martian moon Phobos but also for a radio rendezvous with NASA's Deep
Space Network (DSN).
Phobos 1 and Phobos 2, scheduled for launch a week later, each
carry 100-pound landers designed to analyze the 17-mile-long,
potato-shaped moon, and the DSN's role in the mission is to provide
essential tracking data to permit their landing on Phobos. The DSN
then will shift to enabling a key scientific goal of the mission, to
track Phobos very precisely. The DSN's 230-foot dish antennas in
California, Spain and Australia, as well as a Soviet radio telescope
in the Crimea will be used. The landings, and the special DSN
tracking, are expected to begin in April 1989.
Scientists are interested in the orbit of Phobos because it
appears to be decaying. They believe tidal forces, the unequal
attraction of gravity between different parts of two bodies, are
making the moon spiral very slowly toward Mars and eventual
destruction. Optical tracking is barely accurate enough to detect
this phenomenon. Only active radio tracking, with a spacecraft on the
site, can measure the orbit's decay rate.
The Deep Space Network, developed and operated by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory over the past 3 decades, has built up unique
expertise in determining the distance, within yards, and the velocity
of spacecraft billions of miles from Earth.
During the passage of Comet Halley in 1986, JPL and Soviet
scientists cooperated to pin down the location of the comet's nucleus
for the European spacecraft Giotto by precisely locating the Soviet
Vega spacecraft while they were photographing the nucleus, then
reckoning from known camera locations and angles to find the target
for Giotto's later flyby.
This time, U.S. scientists will use a radio-astronomy technique
called very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), which employs
widely-spaced, paired ground antennas, as well as doppler and range
tracking to pinpoint the position and motions of the moon Phobos.
The Deep Space Network will receive telemetry, including images
and other scientific measurements, from the two landers, but its
principal responsibility will be the ranging and VLBI measurements.
These will be complicated by the moon's rapid rotation once every 7
hours, 37 minutes and the fact that the lander antenna will be fixed,
rather than tracking the Earth. Scientists expect to be able to track
lander and moon for only about 17 minutes out of each rotation period,
without the DSN's worldwide facilities, this would be still further
reduced. Lander telemetry, like that from the Phobos orbiters, also
will be collected by Soviet receiving stations.
Between October 1988 and year's end, Phobos project and DSN
scientists will check the VLBI technique under space flight
conditions. Hardware was checked at the Goldstone tracking site in April.
Then, after the Phobos spacecraft go into Mars orbit in late
January, precise tracking by the DSN will help first Phobos 1 and then
Phobos 2 edge down very close to the moon's orbit so that the manifold
scientific operations can begin.
The Phobos mission involves more than three dozen experiments,
with scientists representing nations of Eastern and Western Europe as
well as the United States and the U.S.S.R. Two orbiters and two
landers, consisting of a long-lived scientific package and a 100-pound
hopper which measures surface properties at several positions 20 to 40
yards apart, carry the instruments.
|
| 439.2 | next stop MARS | PARITY::BIRO | | Fri Jul 08 1988 12:14 | 51 |
| Taken for various TASS article for the 7th of JULY
PHOBOS-1 interplanetary automatic station was launched at
21:38 Moscow Time the 7th of July. It will study Mars,
its satellite Phobos, the Sun , and interplanetrary space.
A PHOBOS-2 spacecraft will be faunch in five days time on the
12th of July. The booster used was a proton.
A series of atmospheric and ionosperic experiments will make it
possible to obtain new data on water reserves on Mars, it will also
determin the amounts of molecular oxygen and carbon dioxide and
the dynamics of the gas exchanges between the atmosphere and the
polar caps. The determination of a deuterium to hydrogen ratio
will shed light on the past of the planet and will explain the cause
of disappearance of liquid water on it.
The lauch was carried live from the Baikonur Kosmodrome.
200 days after the launch in January next year, the spacecraft will
approach Mars and will be put into an elliptical orbit then into
a circular orbit at a distance of 6000 KM from Mars.
The station will approach phobos in April of 1989. Phobos has a
dia of 27 KM. A colour image of the planet and its thermal map
with a resoulution of up to two kilometers will be relayed to Earth.
The PHOBOS unit will have synthesised colour images with more then
6 cm resoulution and will take over 100 soil samples form over
100 different points.
Other experiments include
+ LIMA + a laser ray focussed on the surface of phobos in a point
with a diameter of 1 mm ionising the substance and trapped.
+ DION + where a special gun will bombard rock from board the space
station with heavy ions of krypton. Particles of matter whipped
up from the surface will be registered by a sensitvie mass spectrometer
on board the station
The mission will last 460 days, at the end of the mission the Earth
and Mars with the apparatuses circling it will be situated on the
opposite sides form the Sun which will make it possible to stage
a rare experiment for the observation of the centers of solar activity
on the unseen part of the Sun.
The Soviets also were busy with the launch of Cosmos-1957 a Earth's Natural
resources satellite into an orbit with initial peiriod of 88.7
min and an dinclnation of 82.6 deg.
jb
|
| 439.3 | Boing, boing, boing... | STUD::DOTEN | This was a Pizza Hut | Fri Jul 08 1988 18:22 | 25 |
| The July Sky & Telescope has an artists's rendition of the Phobos
craft zapping the surface of Phobos with a laser. The craft will
only be 50 meters from the moon when it does this. I guess the reason
for the laser is to vaporize some material which will then be picked
up by the craft and analyzed. Sounds pretty neat to me!
The main artical in the issue describes how one of the crafts (there
are 2) will release a probe that will hop along the surface of Phobos.
Looks like a wild device. The "hopper" looks like a ball for the
most part, except for 4 rods protruding from it. No matter which
way it lands, 2 of the rods will pivot and set the hopper in its
upright position. After doing some experiments for about 20 minutes,
a spring-loaded "foot" makes the hopper hop about 20 meters high
to another location where experiments are repeated. Wouldn't it
be a gas to be able to take a picture of this thing hopping it's
way across the surface of Phobos! The thing is supposed to hop around
for about 4 hours!
The craft also have other landers (but these are stationary). These
landers will do analysis of the surface for a year. Among other
things, they have TV cameras.
Can't wait for January 1989!
-Glenn-
|
| 439.4 | Some details on PHOBOS 1, future Soviet Mars plans | MTWAIN::KLAES | Know Future | Mon Jul 11 1988 17:00 | 55 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Soviets launch PHOBOS 1 mission and MIR spacewalk update
Posted: 8 Jul 88 19:28:16 GMT
Organization: The Internet
The Soviet Union successfully launched the first of the
PHOBOS/Mars probes from the Baikonur cosmodrome today (July 7). The
exact launch time was not given but the it was listed on the 5:00 pm
EDT news of Radio Moscow. The launch was shown live on Soviet TV and
taped versions were seen on several of the nightly news broadcasts
here. All that is said so far is that the orbital insertion was
correct. There is no statement of when the on-orbit burn to shape the
interplanetary orbit to Mars will occur (probably sometime on July 8).
These pictures of the PROTON launch vehicle were excellent even if it
was a night launch (they retained a spot light on the vehicle for a
considerable distance).
There have been several excellent descriptions of this probe
recently, and I am working on a summary of those for posting in a few
days. For those that are interested I suggest you get the current
issues of SKY AND TELESCOPE, plus SPACEFLIGHT (the British Interplanetary
Society magazine), and the March 3 issue of NEW SCIENTIST.
The Soviets were holding a news conference just prior to this
launch where they laid out more plans for future Mars missions. They
are now talking of manned flights in 2010 to 2017, about a decade
after their previous discussions of a late 1990s manned mission to
Mars orbit.
More information has come out about the Mir station space walk
held on June 30. Titov and Manarov tried to repair the British/Dutch
X-ray telescope during a 5 hour space walk, but ran into problems when
some of the tools they were using broke in the "cold of outer space".
This suggests that they employed their standard tools from inside for
park of this work (ie. not EVA rated). They are preparing for another
space walk, though no date is set.
At the Soviet Party Congress last week there were two people who
attacked their space program. As here the two lines of arguments were
that it is (a) expensive and the money could best be spent helping the
people or (b) it is a big science project which eliminates smaller,
more worthwhile science programs. In spite of that it appears that
the space program still has the support of the leadership there.
However now those doubts are being expressed publicly, so maybe this
is what will finally slow them down. On the other hand it may drive
the Soviets towards faster implementation of space processing on an
industrial scale. That would return materials both to their economy
and provide high tech, high value exports. Unfortunately for the time
being there is little chance that such space processing will be done
by this country on an industrial scale. We should work towards
changing that.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.5 | PHOBOS 2 launch successful | MTWAIN::KLAES | Know Future | Fri Jul 15 1988 20:45 | 12 |
| PHOBOS 2 was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
on Tuesday, July 12, at 9:01 pm Moscow Time (1:01 pm EDT) on its
way to the planet Mars. The news article (from Associated Press) also
said that PHOBOS 1's on-board navigation systems were activated on
July 8, one day after its launch from the Soviet Union.
This news comes from the Wednesday edition of THE BOSTON GLOBE,
from a small article on page 7 crammed up in a corner next to a
huge Jordan Marsh advertisement, if that tells you anything.
Larry
|
| 439.6 | TIME magazine's "Onward to Mars" | MTWAIN::KLAES | Know Future | Fri Jul 15 1988 20:51 | 16 |
| The July 18, 1988 issue of TIME magazine has a cover story on
the future exploration of the planet Mars, in light of the Soviet's
recent successful launches of its PHOBOS probes. It is a very
interesting article, and explains especially how and why it is going
to be a rather difficult process to get humans to Mars and back
safely and productively.
The one error I caught was with the picture on page 50. The
caption says that the long white rod in the 1976 picture is VIKING 1's
mechanical arm for soil sampling; this is wrong. It is the
meteorological boom for analyzing Mars' weather, though trenches
can be seen in the reddish Martian soil which were made by the
mechanical arm.
Larry
|
| 439.7 | A PHOBOS probe in trouble? | MTWAIN::KLAES | No atomic lobsters this week. | Thu Sep 08 1988 13:34 | 17 |
| According to yesterday's BOSTON GLOBE newspaper from anonymous
U.S. sources, one of the two PHOBOS probes to Mars (it was not
specified which one) is allegedly having problems which are hampering
communications with Soviet Mission Control. There were no further
details in the article. I (or perhaps some else?) will post more
on this situation as things develop.
I sincerely hope this is just a rumor, and that it is quickly
fixed if it is not. The Soviets have not had much luck with their
unmanned Mars probes. At least the Soviets still have the good sense
(and the budget) to launch two probes per planetary mission in case
one probe has problems instead of just one probe per mission as seems
to be the case with NASA these days in their misguided attempts to
"save" money.
Larry
|
| 439.8 | Phobos-1 Killed by Human Error | PARITY::BIRO | | Fri Sep 09 1988 17:52 | 21 |
| TASS today announce that communication to Phobos-1 has
been lost do to human error. The wrong code was sent
up to it and there looks like there is no possibility
way of getting it back.
A communcation session with Phobos-1 on the 2nd of Sept Failed when
the spacecraft was 17 Million Kilometers from the earth. Phobos-2
is functioning smoothly the article goes on to say an that it
was 19 million kikometers from earth along a trajectory closed to
the predicted one.
I seem to rember we did something simular to the Robot experiment
on Mars but it has some 'AI' and once it lost communcation for
a certain period of time would fix on a star and try to point the
antenna back in the gerneral direction of earth, however, before
this happen the batteries went dead.
jb
|
| 439.9 | Details on the PHOBOS 1 mishap | MTWAIN::KLAES | No atomic lobsters this week. | Mon Sep 19 1988 20:56 | 78 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro
Path: decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcvax!enea!tut!santra!kolvi!kwi
Subject: Re: Soviet Mars probe PHOBOS 1 communications lost enroute.
Posted: 14 Sep 88 07:09:19 GMT
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Original_From: VTTINS::LEPPELMR
Phobos I news
G.W. Leppelmeier 12.9.88
At the last session of the meeting of the International
Science Committee of the Spectrum-X-Gamma project,
Friday, 9.9.88, Prof. R. Sagdeev gave a presentation of
"all we know at present about what has happened to
Phobos I". These are my notes from that presentation.
A few weeks ago it was decided to move the control of
Phobos I from the Crimean Space Center to a Center near
Moscow. Among other things, this involved using a new
computer with a different keyboard. Traps were
installed in the new operating system to catch
characteristic operator errors, including one wherein an
operator now had to insert a particular character at the
end of a command. If he failed to do so, a reminder
would come on the screen asking him if he had forgotten
to do so, and the computer would not continue unless
the character were included, OR the operator
specifically overode the computer.
On 29.8.88 a very long message was being prepared for
transmission to Phobos I. At one point, near the end of
the message, the operator failed to add the character,
the computer stopped, but failed to display the question
on the screen. The operator thought it was a computer
error and overode the stop. The absence of the
particular character changed the bit pattern of the
following instruction, into a bit pattern, not on the
list of accepted commands, but which did call an area of
the onboard ROM which had a list of possible commands,
used in development and left there for possible future
use. Unfortunately, the particular pattern created in
this error translated into turning off the attitude
control thrusters.
Two days later the Control Center sent a message to
Phobos I and received no answer. It is now believed
that as the spacecraft slowly changed orientation it
lost power, because the solar panels no longer faced the
sun, and everything turned off. The serious concern is
that many items [from private conversations I gather
both in spacecraft support and instruments] need
electrical power to avoid becoming too cold, and will
be permanently damaged if they get too cold.
Sagdeev listed the following points as links in the
chain:
- error on operator's part
- computer failure
- operator decision to circumvent computer
- absence of cross checks
- actual command sent able to enter ROM
- The OB computer must be programmed to prevent
suicide. [I beleive RS said the OBCPU was 8-bit. You
can't do much checking with such a small cpu on such a
large spacecraft.]
Added 14.9: This is what I wrote when I returned from Moscow.
Looking at my notes, I realise that the move of control center
may have taken place on 29.8 and the transmission error later.
There is an article on the PHOBOS missions in the Sci-Tech
section of today's BOSTON GLOBE. One thing they report is that the
Soviets are going to attempt to to reestablish contact with PHOBOS 1
at the end of September; but if it is losing (or lost) power as I have
read, it may be a futile effort, though I wouldn't stop them from trying.
|
| 439.10 | PHOBOS 1 gone for good | MTWAIN::KLAES | Saturn by 1970 | Wed Oct 26 1988 13:51 | 16 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: decwrl!ucbvax!LL-VLSI.ARPA!glenn
Subject: Soviet PHOBOS 1 Mars probe officially declared inoperative.
Posted: 24 Oct 88 18:17:46 GMT
Organization: The Internet
The U.S.S.R. has officially declared the PHOBOS 1 Mars probe dead.
All attempts to recover it have not worked. The report called it the
first Soviet interplanetary probe failure in fifteen years (the last
probe failures were also Mars missions, MARS 4-7). To prevent problems
with the remaining mission, PHOBOS 2, commands sent the probe will be kept
to a minimum.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.11 | Identical? | DECWIN::FISHER | Burns Fisher 381-1466, ZKO3-4/W23 | Thu Nov 03 1988 16:45 | 7 |
| Are P1 and P2 identical? I know they were thinking of sending P2
to Deimos if P1 was successful. That will clearly be skuttled.
Are there any other experiments that are completely lost because
of P1's demise?
Burns
|
| 439.12 | RE 439.11 | MTWAIN::KLAES | Saturn by 1970 | Tue Nov 15 1988 12:54 | 24 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Path: decwrl!hplabs!hp-sdd!ncr-sd!ncrlnk!uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry
Subject: Space news from October 3 AW&ST
Posted: 14 Nov 88 05:17:16 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Xref: decwrl sci.space:8415 sci.space.shuttle:2838
Soviets modifying Mars-study plans after loss of PHOBOS 1,
although final efforts to reestablish communications with it are still
in progress. Some experiments were not duplicated, and there were
hopes that the seismometer on P1's fixed lander might have been able
to detect P2's fixed lander putting down its "harpoon" anchor.
Fortunately the "hopper" lander is on P2. P2's Phobos flyby may be
moved up a few weeks, since there is no longer any need to wait until
P1's flyby is finished.
US geologists examining VENERA radar images of Venus have found
features similar to Earth's mid-ocean rift zones, the first solid
evidence of plate tectonics on Venus. The images are five years old,
but became available outside the USSR only recently.
Sendmail is a bug, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
not a feature. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
|
| 439.13 | PHOBOS 1 officially written off - reasons why | MTWAIN::KLAES | Saturn by 1970 | Thu Dec 15 1988 14:31 | 16 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Path: decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry
Subject: Space news from November 7 AW&ST
Posted: 13 Dec 88 06:14:15 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Xref: decwrl sci.space:9065 sci.space.shuttle:3110
Soviets officially write off PHOBOS 1. It has probably stabilized
in a gravity-gradient attitude with its solar panels pointed away from
the Sun. It went out of control when a ground software-checking
computer failed during preparation of a command sequence, and a
technician transmitted the sequence without waiting for checking.
SunOSish, adj: Requiring | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
32-bit bug numbers. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
|
| 439.14 | Phobos 2 Experiencing Problems???? | THEHUT::STONE | | Wed Dec 28 1988 11:31 | 7 |
| I have read brief news reports in the local (Boston) papers that
the Phobos 2 probe is now experiencing some technical failures.
The reports are not clear in specifying whether the problems are
in a specific experiment package or whether they are with the over-
all spacecraft.
Does anyone have any more info on this?
|
| 439.15 | PHOBOS-2 status = ? | PARITY::BIRO | | Fri Dec 30 1988 11:09 | 39 |
| re:14 I found the following ? information on Phobos-1-2
PHOBOS A Months' flight yet to Mars -
The Soviet space probe Phobos-2, which blasted off on July 12,1988,
will begin orbiting Mars by the end of January and approach the red
planet's moon PHOBOS in early April, a Tass correspondent said
at the Babakin Research and testing Centre.
The Tass article has several error that lead to still more confusion
over the status of Phobos-2. For example
ROUTINE EQUIPMENT CHECKS LED ISOLATED MALFUNCTIONS IN SOME OF THE INSTRUMENTS
ON BOARD PHOBOS-1 BUT, ACCORDING TO DR. GARRI ROGOVSKY OF THE BABAKIN CENTRE,
MOST HAVE BEEN RECTIFIED, WHILE THE REST WON'T PREVENT THE RESEARCH PROGRAM
FROM BEING CARRIED OUT IN FULL AFTER APPROACHING MARS THE VEHICLE WILL
TAKE EVER LOWER ORBIT TO EXPLORE THE PLANET IN THE VISIBLE, INFER-RED,
GAMMA-ARAY BANDS, COMPILE A TEMPERATURE MAP OF ITS SURFACE, GET A BETTER
IDEA OF ITS MINERAL MAKE-UP AND OF ITS ATMOSPHERE AND IONOSHPERE....
Note the obvious mistake of call the craft PHOBOS-1 not -2, one would
assume they were talking about -2 and made a typo or disinformation.
The article goes on an talks about all the present accomplishments of
PHOBOS-1 & -2 but all these accoplisments listed were before the
loss of Phobos-1 in September when an erroneous computer command sent
to the vehicle turned off its pmematic system.
I talked to a leading US expert on Soviet Space and he confirms that
there is a problem with Phobos-2 but no details are know if it is
serious or not, he did not expect the Soviets to acknowledge if it is
a serious failure for some time. He pointed to the several months time
before acknowledging PHOBOS -1 loss. Since I have an early report
that PHBOS-1 which I assume is PHOBOS-2 is OK but with some small
malfunction , I guess I will have to take there word that it is a
minor malfunction, but come January time will tell.
|
| 439.16 | Details on the loss of PHOBOS 1 | MTWAIN::KLAES | Saturn by 1970 | Fri Dec 30 1988 12:16 | 291 |
| Here is part 2 of the November 1988 unabridged CANOPUS. There is
only one article. Please let me know in advance if your mailing
address changes or if you want to be dropped from the list.
CANOPUS is published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics. Send correspondence about its contents to the executive
editor, William W. L. Taylor (taylor%trwatd.span@star.stanford.edu;
e-mail to canopus@cfa.uucp will probably be forwarded). Send
correspondence about business matters to Mr. John Newbauer, AIAA, 1633
Broadway, NY, NY 10019. Although AIAA has copyrighted CANOPUS and
registered its name, you are encouraged to distribute CANOPUS widely,
either electronically or as printout copies. If you do, however,
please send a brief message to Taylor estimating how many others
receive copies. CANOPUS is partially supported by the National Space
Science Data Center.
THE SOFTWARE BUG ON PHOBOS 1 - can881107.txt - 11/22/88
FROM THE EDITOR:
A great deal of speculation followed the loss in August-
September of Phobos 1. According to the Soviets the error occurred
when a programmer overrode a rudimentary error-checking routine before
uplinking new commands to the spacecraft. The fault in the revised
code caused the spacecraft to break track with the sun and deplete its
batteries. A switchover to a new space control center may have been a
factor, but just how is uncertain.
Whatever the cause, it indicates some problem in basic Soviet
computer programming and architecture. One might ask why the Soviets
did not design the spacecraft with a subroutine that would start
looking for the Sun, then Earth, if battery power dropped to a certain
level and no one had called from home. One Soviet observer in Texas
believes that even that level of sophistication is beyond the Soviets.
Before readers become too critical, however, they should remember
that basically the same sort of error was committed by this country
and left the Viking 1 lander with its high-gain antenna aimed at the
ground instead of space a few years ago. And a simple error (a
forgotten comma) was believed to be at fault when a U.S. probe headed
for Brazil instead of the planets in the early 1960s. [It was MARINER
1, the first U.S. attempt to send a probe to Venus, in 1962].
The correspondence that follows is presented for the information
of our readers. Opinions expressed are those of the authors. The only
editing has been to remove mail codes and other data.
-----
From: TRWATD::TAYLOR 23-SEP-1988 08:52
To: 43009::HIGGINS,TAYLOR
Subj: RE: Left out Leppelmeier
From: 43009::HIGGINS "Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey" 23-SEP-1988
To: WILLIAM TAYLOR, TRW [Canopus editor-in-chief]
Subj: Details on Phobos probe failure from Finland
Bill:
Here's something juicy that came over the Arpanet's RISKS-FORUM
Digest, a regular forum for discussing the things that can go wrong
when you're using computers. The posting is by Kaj Wiik, it was
forwarded by Ritchey Ruff, and the moderator of the Digest is Peter
Neumann. It gives a lot of detail on the Phobos 1 failure. I've been
disappointed that *AvWeek* had no followup on this in their 19
September issue, after a brief and sketchy notice in their 12
September issue. I have the same questions as Ruff: why couldn't the
spacecraft recover from the disastrous drift/tumble?
Further questions should be directed to Wiik; he is reachable on
the Internet at kwi%kolvi.hut.fi@cunyvm.cuny.edu. If you don't have
access to him, I could try to relay (I'm not sure I could reach that
address either) or find somebody else to relay.
Below the Wiik account, I've appended all the other (earlier) traffic
about Phobos that appeared on RISKS-FORUM, in case you are interested.
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 88 14:07:33 PDT
From: ruffwork@edison.cs.orst.edu
Subject:
This is via Kaj Wiik in Finland (he is an associate of Gilbert
Leppelmeir[of Finland's IKI or space research center-- ed.]). It is
reprinted with permission (I suggest people try to get permission,
it's not only the "correct" way to do it, but it can also be fun!
Right, Eugene?).
It was such a twisted set of "coincidences" it could only happen
in real life. From this note the following questions come to mind:
- the probes are programmed "real time" ?
- they are programmed in a very low level language ?
- the code isn't verified before transmission ?
- there is no continous telemetry from the probe ?
- there is no "sanity check" in the probe, and no "panic"
mode (as several have told me NASA uses) to keep the probe
from doing really dumb things ?
At least the "hopper" is on Phobos 2 instead of Phobos 1...
[The two Phobos spacecraft are not identical. Phobos 2 carries a
small hopper that will hop from one location to another on the surface
of Phobos. Phobos 1 carried a number of space science instruments,
including a solar coronograph that, it was hoped, would provide stereo
coronal images with Solar Max.--ed.]
-----
Phobos I news
Gilbert W. Leppelmeier 12.9.88
VTT (Finnish Technical Research Centre),
Instrument laboratory
On 29.8.88 a very long message was being prepared for
transmission to Phobos I. At one point, near the end of the message,
the operator failed to add the character, the computer stopped, but
failed to display the question on the screen. The operator thought it
was a computer error and overode the stop. The absence of the
particular character changed the bit pattern of the following
instruction, into a bit pattern, not on the list of accepted commands,
but which did call an area of the onboard ROM which had a list of
possible commands, used in development and left there for possible
future use. Unfortunately, the particular pattern created in this
error translated into turning off the attitude control thrusters.
Two days later the Control Center sent a message to Phobos I and
received no answer. It is now believed that as the spacecraft slowly
changed orientation it lost power, because the solar panels no longer
faced the sun, and everything turned off. The serious concern is that
many items [from private conversations I gather both in spacecraft
support and instruments] need electrical power to avoid becoming too
cold, and will be permanently damaged if they get too cold.
Sagdeev listed the following points as links in the chain:
- error on operator's part
- computer failure
- operator decision to circumvent computer
- absence of cross checks
- actual command sent able to enter ROM
- The OB computer must be programmed to prevent suicide. [I
believe RS said the OBCPU was 8-bit. You can't do much
checking with such a small cpu on such a large spacecraft.
--G.L.]
This is the first failure of a Soviet deep space spacecraft since 1972.
Added 14.9: This is what I wrote when I returned from Moscow.
Looking at my notes, I realise that the move of control center may
have taken place on 29.8 and the transmission error later.
-----
Date: Sat 10 Sep 88 15:22:49-PDT
From: Gary Kremen (The Arb) <89.KREMEN@GSB-HOW.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Soviets See Little Hope of Controlling Spacecraft
According to today's (Saturday, September 10, 1988) New York
Times, the Soviets lost their Phobos I spacecraft after it tumbled in
orbit and the solar cells lost power. The tumbling was caused when a
ground controller gave it an improper command.
This has to one of the most expensive system mistakes ever.
Gary Kremen, Stanford Graduate School of Business
[Several people reported on radio items that attributed the
problem to a console operator's single keystroke in error, which it
was speculated might have triggered the Mars probe's self- destruct
signal. After the command was sent, contact with the probe was lost
completely. PGN]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 88 03:50:09 EDT
From: "Philip E. Agre" <AGRE@AI.AI.MIT.EDU>
Subject: "Single keystroke"
PGN attaches the following comment onto a message about the
Soviet's loss of a Phobos spacecraft.
[Several people reported on radio items that attributed the
problem to a console operator's single keystroke in error, which it
was speculated might have triggered the Mars probe's self- destruct
signal. After the command was sent, contact with the probe was lost
completely. PGN]
I have no reliable information about this particular case, but I
am struck by the high proportion of operator mistakes which get
reported as `single keystroke' errors. I strongly suspect that
single-keystroke errors are largely an urban myth (you know, poodles
in microwaves and the like). I'm sure that in this world of crummy
user interfaces you can often do plenty of damage with a single
keystroke, but the image of a single mistaken keystroke leading to
disaster has got to be a very tempting trope for journalists and
cartoonists and rumor-passers whether it's accurate or not. Besides,
it'll always have a certain tenuous relation to the truth: the single
keystroke that does the damage is the final Return you hit after your
two hundred keystrokes of wrongheadedness.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 88 15:20:18 PDT
From: Peter G. Neumann <Neumann@KL.SRI.COM>
Subject: Soviet Mars Probe
For the "single-character" doubters:
The Soviet Mars probe was mistakenly ordered to "commit suicide"
when ground control beamed up a 20 to 30 page message in which a
single character was inadvertently omitted. The change in progam was
required because the Phobos 1 control had been transferred from a
command center in the Crimea to a new facility near Moscow. "The
[changes] would not have been required if the controller had been
working the computer in Crimea." The commands caused the spacecraft's
solar panels to point the wrong way, which would prevent the batteries
from staying charged, ultimately causing the spacecraft to run out of power.
[From the SF Chronicle, 10 Sept 88, item (page A11), thanks to
Jack Goldberg.]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 88 13:56:06 edt
From: davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske)
Subject: Phobos I details
Organization: BRS Information Technologies
United Press International reported on Sept. 10 that IKI Director
Raold Sagdeev said it would take 'a miracle' to save Phobos 1. UPI,
quoting a copyrighted Houston Chronicle story, said the transfer from
the Crimean control facility to one near Moscow started the problenm.
"The controllers did not estimate how difficult it would be to work
in," was quoted as saying, and they left one character out of a 20 to
30 page message. "The [changes] would not have been required if the
controller had been working the computer in Crimea," Sagdeev told the
Chronicle. The error then went undetected by a ground computer. "In
the end, he said, the absence of one letter from the computer
programming and the absence of a computer backup program, resulted in
the transmission of 'a comment [sic] to commit suicide' to Phobos 1,"
he said.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 88 09:47:24 -0700
From: Jack Goldberg <goldberg@csl.sri.com>
Subject: Phobos I details
Key phrases in the UPI Phobos report:
1. ...by an unbelievably small chance, there was a failure
in the computer that allowed the error to go undetected.
2. ..and the absence of a computer backup program..
In (1), the issue seems to be error detection, such as is given
by a check on character type (probably not the case because of
reference to a missing character) or a longitudinal check on a
character string or substring (parity, sum, count, etc.) Such checks
may be performed in hardware or in software. In (2) the problem is
characterized as the absence of a backup program, which is not,
strictly speaking, an error detection mechanism, but rather a remedy
that may invoked by detection of an error (an alternate remedy is to
notify an operator). Error detection is arcane computer stuff, while
"backup program" is almost daily english. My guess is that the problem
was indeed a failure in error detection, and that the reporter
mischaracterized it as a failure in backup. In either case, it seems
that the failure was caused by a combination of human and computer
system failures.
By the way, failure in error detection (and recovery, too), is a
major type of system error (e.g., reports by Siewiorek, CMU, and Iyer,
U. Ill.) The standard explanation is that since errors are rare
events, error detection mechanisms are less frequently exercised and
hence are more poorly debugged than the rest of the system.
Jack
----------
Readers' comments on this or any other space activities are
invited. Send comments to:
Bill Taylor at TRWATD::TAYLOR via SPAN {e-mail to canopus@cfa.uucp
or canopus@cfa.harvard.edu will get forwarded, mailers willing --SW}
or Dave Dooling at SSL::CANOPUS via SPAN
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|
| 439.17 | PHOBOS 2 - Crippled, but not dead yet | MTWAIN::KLAES | No guts, no Galaxy... | Wed Jan 18 1989 14:58 | 20 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: decwrl!purdue!mailrus!ames!lll-winken!arisia!cdp!jordankatz
Subject: NSS-Space Hotline Update 1/13
Posted: 14 Jan 89 19:23:00 GMT
Organization:
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:246900002:000:4429
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!jordankatz Jan 14 11:23:00 1989
This is the National Space Society Space Hotline for Fri. January 13:
PHOBOS 2, the Soviets remaining operational PHOBOS spacecraft has
experienced difficulty with some of its payload instrumentation. Its
television system has failed and they are experiencing difficulties
with the data collection from certain experiments. Plans are
continuing for the spacecraft close encounter with Mars' moon Phobos
in the first half of 1989.
This has been Jordan Katz reporting for the National Space Society
Space hotline, this report will be updated next on Jan. 19.
|
| 439.18 | PHOBOS 2 is in bad shape | MTWAIN::KLAES | No guts, no Galaxy... | Thu Jan 26 1989 13:53 | 56 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: decwrl!labrea!agate!ucbvax!LL-VLSI.ARPA!glenn
Subject: Transmitter failure on PHOBOS 2.
Posted: 25 Jan 89 06:34:13 GMT
Organization: The Internet
The USSR's PHOBOS 2 probe to Mars has suffered a "major hardware
problem" with its communications, according to both DEFENSE DAILY and
SOVIET AEROSPACE (January 9). The main transmitter, a 50 Watt high
data rate system, has failed almost completely, and there is little
chance it can be recovered. This leaves only the 5 Watt low rate back
up transmitter, obviously with little capacity for the imaging data of
Mars/Phobos. The high data rate system was to operate at 4000 bits
per second, the same as the US VIKING probes. Roughly the new lower
rate will be 1/10 of this (though some increase may be possible
depending on the noise levels. Note that the internal storage
capacity on the PHOBOS probe is 30 Megbytes.
Soviet researchers believe that they should still be able to get
the data from the Phobos encounter on April 7. The two Phobos surface
probes, the base station and the hopper, have their own transmitters.
However, the initial Martian orbital data, slated to start on Jan
29, will be drastically reduced. The good news is that the three
FREGAT television cameras and the connected spectrometer have been
repaired after an earlier problem. The computer has room for 1100
groups of pictures from the 4 instruments, hence the problem on the
initial orbits. Also one of 10 particle stream instruments has
failed, but that is not considered critical (sorry I am not certain
exactly which of the charged particle instrument they are referring to
here). All of this comes after the earlier total failure of PHOBOS 1.
According to earlier information, the Soviets should have started
the final course corrections sometime between Jan. 14 to 22, but I
have not heard of it. PHOBOS will be heading towards Mars from the
interplanetary orbit and reach about a minimum distance of 800 Km (500
miles) on the 29th. At that point the retros will fire, to insert the
craft into a highly elliptical orbit of 4200 Km (2610 mi) periares and
79,000 Km (49,100 mi.) apoares of 72 hours period (sorry - I am just
guessing that they will combine the Greek orbital prefixes with the
Greek name for Mars). It will maintain this orbit for 25 days with the
original plans calling for high resolution photos of Mars.
Note: For those trying to follow the PHOBOS missions the best
source I have seen is the new book "Race to Mars" edited by Frank
Miles and Nicholas Booth, Harper & Row pub. (1988) $19.95; Library of
Congress call number TL799.M3R3.
Sorry for the delay in this report (and my other Soviet program
data) but I was off at a conference and have just gotten caught up
from the January rush. Also I must thank several people who sent kind
notes with respect to my postings at the year's end - my net connections
do not all me to reply to all of you but your interest is appreciated.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.19 | TASS on Phobos | PARITY::BIRO | | Thu Jan 26 1989 19:02 | 14 |
| TASS still talks as if all was ok.
On 25th of Jan the probe engins will be started for a 200 sec burn
to begining of the braking for a 800km by 80000km orbit around Mars.
Phobos would take 3 earth years to complete a circle around Mars
with this orbit , the Tass article went on.
Then the probe wil be in the Shadow zone and comminication would
be temporaily interrupted.
No idea if it did or if this was just the plan...
john
|
| 439.20 | Phobos Mars' New Satellite | PARITY::BIRO | | Mon Jan 30 1989 14:13 | 7 |
| On Sunday the 29th of Jan the Soviet automatic interplanetray station
Phobos was palce into an artifical Mars orbit, according to TASS.
The braking operation statred at 03:55 PM Moscow Time and all was
reported to have gone accordance with the flight programme.
|
| 439.21 | Details on PHOBOS 2 in Mars orbit | MTWAIN::KLAES | No guts, no Galaxy... | Tue Jan 31 1989 11:06 | 40 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: decwrl!labrea!agate!ucbvax!LL-VLSI.ARPA!glenn
Subject: Phobos II enters Mars orbit
Posted: 30 Jan 89 02:43:43 GMT
Organization: The Internet
The Soviet Union's Phobos II probe has successfully gone into
orbit around Mars today (Jan. 29th) according to Radio Moscow short
wave (sorry no time or orbital insertion was given). The announcement
said that the orbit was near to the expected value, suggesting firing
occurred at 800 Km (500 mi) yielding a 4200 Km (2610 mi) by 79,000 Km
(49,100 mi) orbit, 79 hour orbit. Retro engine thrust is rated at 1 -
1.9 tonnes, nitric acid/hydrazine engine. After 25 days this will
change to a 9700 Km (6030 mi) by 79,000 Km (49,100 mi) 79 hour orbit,
where it will stay for 35 days. Then a circular 9700 Km (6030 mi) 8
hour will be established for 30 days which will gain the controllers
the navigation information for the 9378 Km (5827 mi) 7.6 hour final
orbit at Phobos. Thus roughly 90 days from now, about May 30, the
probe make its rendezvous with that moon of Mars. After that it will
return to the 8 hour orbit for more observations of the planet.
One other point concerning my Jan. 24th posting about the
transmitter failure. The reports that I read were in Defense Daily
and Aerospace Daily, and the two articles were identical. However, I
have since talked to several others who have direct communications
with Russian researchers. All say that there no problem was mentioned
by the Soviets even after the Jan 9th date of the articles which
quoted unnamed sources. Let us hope that this was a false alarm, or
at least the transmitters are working again. (I want to see all the
data on Phobos come to Earth - the Soviets have said they will make
most of it available in the west).
Now we may find out if the Martian moons will be a source of
material for refueling Mars ships. Unfortunately this data will be
coming from the USSR for the next few years. However, they that make
the effort deserve the rewards.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.22 | Phobos in Mars Orbit | PARITY::BIRO | | Tue Jan 31 1989 16:37 | 10 |
|
TASS posted a different set of Phobos Orbital elements
79,750 KM by 850 KM
inclination of 1 deg
period of 76.5 hours
john
|
| 439.23 | Why can't we get the data too? | MAMIE::BOND | | Tue Jan 31 1989 19:57 | 7 |
| Just a simple question. The report mentioned that the Soviets would
be releasing data... What prevents the US from picking up the data
on their own? Is it encrypted? Can't we break the code, or don't
we know the code? I don't get it...
Peter
|
| 439.24 | tlm freq | PARITY::BIRO | | Wed Feb 01 1989 12:49 | 5 |
| The frequency of the Phobos space craft is different then
what we use for Deep Space. It would require a change to
our receiving equipment that is not simple nor is it
impossible...
|
| 439.25 | | STAR::HUGHES | | Wed Feb 01 1989 13:58 | 6 |
| RE .24
The DSN is being modified (or has been) to support the Phobos mission. Ref to
reply .1, and probably others, to this note for more info.
gary
|
| 439.26 | Phobos update | PARITY::BIRO | | Mon Feb 13 1989 12:18 | 26 |
| TASS CORRESPONDENT REPORTS FORM MISSION CONTROL CENTRE: PHOBOS
The PHOBOS interplanetary station that became a satellite of
Mars on the 29th of January has been transferred to a new
intermediate orbit. In accordance with the flight program
the station engines were turned on at 1600MSK on the 12th of
February. The results were a new elliptical orbit with the
following parameters:
Apocentre 81200 KM ?? this may be 87200 KM had bad reception at this point
Pericentre 6400 KM
Inclination 0.9 degrees
Period 86.5 Hours
Obersveration of the surface and atmosphere of Mars and well as the
space around the planet were started on February 1st and continued on
February 5, 8 and 11.
In the Future, the craft will be transferred to a circular orbit with
a radius that will exceed by 200-300 km the height of the PHOBOS
satellite. From this distance the spacecraft will carry out
autonomous navigation measurements of the position of that satellite of
Mars for the purpose of a subsequent rapprochement of the station and
the satellite.
|
| 439.27 | PHOBOS 2 changes Mars orbit, pictures reported | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Tue Feb 14 1989 12:10 | 31 |
| Date: Mon, 13 Feb 89 01:33:40 EST
From: Glenn Chapman <glenn@ll-vlsi.arpa>
Subject: Phobos II probe makes first orbital change at Mars
The USSR's Phobos II probe on Feb. 12 raised its orbit from the
capture one of 4200 km (2610 mi) x 79,000 Km (49,100 mi) to the second
transfer one of 9700 Km (6030 mi) x 79,000 Km (49,100 mi). (The orbits
here are from the planet center, not from the surface as is common for
earth orbits). This change also moved the orbit to an equatorial one,
which is completely outside of the moon Phobos's path. Initial plans
had called for this to occur on Feb. 22, but the Russians decided to
move the rendezvous with Phobos up to about 60 days after the initial
insertion or about March 31st.
The unstated reason is their worry about the health of the probe.
In this new orbit the satellite will continue its study of Mars
itself, however the new periapsis is 2630 Km (1640 mi) above the
surface, compared to the initial minimum height of 800 Km (500 mi).
One other point, on Feb. 2 there were statements that communications
had started with the probe. However, there has been no confirmation
on the shortwave of the receipt of pictures (CBS radio stated that the
first ones have been received). Nor has any of my contacts been able
to confirm the CBS report. This may be tied to earlier reports of
transmitter problems. If anyone has better information please contact me.
Hopefully, Phobos II will still bring us the first real
information about that Moon of Mars.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.28 | PHOBOS 2 photographs Mars and Phobos | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Thu Feb 23 1989 14:33 | 32 |
| Date: Wed, 22 Feb 89 17:09:11 EST
From: Glenn Chapman <glenn@ll-vlsi.arpa>
Subject: Soviet probe takes first Phobos pictures
On Feb. 19th the Soviets reported that the Phobos II probe had
undergone another orbital adjustment, but gave no details. In
retrospect, this appears to be a circularization to a 9700 Km (6030
km) from Mars center orbit. This is just 320 Km (200 mi.) outside of
the orbit of Phobos itself. The first pictures of the moon were
receive today (Feb. 22) according to the short wave, and one has
appeared briefly on CNN just now. This orbit will be maintained for
about the next month, while the exact orbit of Phobos is measured (it
is too poorly known at present to try for an immediate attempt). It
will be photographed against the star background to provide precise
navigation parameters for the final approach during the first week of
April. This report also shows that pictures of the Martian surface have
been received, but we just have not seen them published as of yet.
One report from external experimenters is available. The ESA
(European Space Agency) plasma wave system measured the electron
plasma oscillations of the solar wind in the vicinity of Mars. During
the approach to the planet the bow shock wave, where the solar wind
piles up as it hits the planetary magnetic field and ionosphere, was
crossed several times. Satellite News of Feb. 13 quotes the principal
investigator, Rejean Gerard, as saying "The PSW instrument worked
perfectly, yielding a wealth of new and exciting information about
wave activity and plasma density in the Martian Environment". Now the
exploration of Phobos begins.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.29 | First pass for PHOBOS 2 completed | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Fri Feb 24 1989 11:39 | 43 |
| Date: Thu, 23 Feb 89 10:41:33 EST
From: Glenn Chapman <glenn@ll-vlsi.arpa>
Subject: Phobos II probe to take next pictures of Phobos on Feb 28
The USSR's Phobos II probe completed the first pass pictures of
the Martian moon and will take a second pass on Feb. 28th. This new
set will be photographed at a distance of 100 to 150 Km (63 - 94 mi.)
according to Radio Moscow, indicating that the new circular orbit
(done by a Feb. 19th burn - see my posting of Feb. 21) is closer than
the initially planed 320 Km (200 mi.). This may represent a change in
the calculated burn, or the uncertainty in the position of Phobos.
Either way it will certainly allow much better pictures of the moon
during this 30 day period before the final encounter attempt. Based
on the stated resolution of the surface mapping camera at closest
approach 6 cm at 50 meters (2.5 in. at 162 ft.) this suggest that
objects 120 to 180 meters (394 ft. to 590 ft.) in diameter can be
resolved during the next picture set (take that number as rather
uncertain - other articles talk about surface resolutions of 1 cm.)
This should be less than the current Viking Orbiter 1 photographs
taken on Oct. 19, 1978 from 612 Km (382 mi.) with a resolution of 15
meters (49 ft. - as taken from the one reference I could find). Note
that as Larry Klaes said in Space Digest V9 #252, pictures of the
Martian moons were indeed taken by Mariner 9. The dates were Nov.
29/30 1971 for Phobos and Nov. 26/27 for Deimos (these were taken in
part due to a dust storm on Mars at that time, which meant that there
was little point in looking at the planet itself). I could find no
reference to pictures by Mariner 6/7 of the moons but maybe I was not
looking at complete enough reports. Note also that Deimos' orbit is at
23,500 km (14,600 mi.) from Mars center while Phobos is only 9378 Km
(5827 mi).
Unfortunately, this shift to an early attempt at Phobos will
certainly degrade the pictures of Mars itself which were to be taken
at the 4200 Km x 79,000 Km (2610 mi x 49,100 mi) injection orbit, just
800 Km (500 mi) from the Mars surface, compared to the present 6300 Km
(3940 mi) altitude. However, there is some compensation as the
present orbit is circular rather than highly elliptical, allowing more
time for close up pictures of Mars, though at 1/8 the resolution of
the best possible previously.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.30 | PHOBOS 2 completes second photo mission of Phobos | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Tue Mar 07 1989 12:10 | 44 |
| Date: Mon, 6 Mar 89 10:36:30 EST
From: Glenn Chapman <glenn@ll-vlsi.arpa>
To: XB.N31@forsythe.stanford.edu, space-editors-new@andrew.cmu.edu,
yaron@astro.as.utexas.edu
Subject: USSR's Phobos II probe takes second pictures of Martian Moon
The USSR's Phobos II probe has successfully completed its second
photographic set of the Martian moon Phobos. However, Radio Moscow
has announced (Mar. 1 - 3) that the pictures were taken, on Feb. 28 -
Mar. 1, at 300 to 440 Km (187 - 275 mi), much further than the 100 -
150 Km (63 - 94 mi) expected distance for this pass. That first
estimate was made from the initial orbital parameters calculated from
the Feb. 22 picture set (done by comparing Phobos' position against
known stars). The problem here is to get the orbits (in position and
time) of both the probe and the moon known sufficiently well to allow
an approach within 80 meters (270 ft.) at the final pass at the
beginning of April.
Soviet Aerospace (Feb. 20) reports that infra red studies of the
Martian surface will allow better mineralogical mapping of the planet.
Also the surface of Phobos itself has been found to be 20 degrees
hotter than expected (they do not say but I expect Celsius unites).
Also the next Russian Mars probe will be in 1994 and include both a
Soviet/French balloon rover and a surface station.
One correction from a previous posting. The closest pictures that
Viking Orbiter 1 took of Phobos were from 480 Km (300 mi) distance,
not the 612 Km (382 mi) value that I posted earlier (though perhaps
still closer photos were taken - would someone at JPL please post the
correct number).
The Phobos II mission is now in its most critical phase. The next
set of burns must be just right to make the landing attempt. The
Russians have a lot of prestige going on this one, plus the more
exciting tremendous scientific gain for themselves and the world.
This is one of the most important planetary missions of this decade,
ranking up there with the Voyager encounters. Yet the press coverage
has been rather small (the first photos were only shown in a few
places). Is this indicative of the public/press lack of interest in
unmanned probes or only the East/West barriers?
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.31 | Phobos keep on ticking | PARITY::BIRO | | Wed Mar 08 1989 14:24 | 11 |
| From TASS
Under progrm control Phobos engines were fired at 15:26 Moscow time
on tuesday the 7th of March to switch the space probe onto the orbit
which lies on the same plane as Phobos orbit.
The next manoeuvre aime at forming a synchronous orbit to ensure
the unmanned probes periodic rapprochment with Phobos (the Moon) to a
distance of 200 kilometers is planed for the 14th of March
|
| 439.32 | Another orbit change | PARITY::BIRO | | Thu Mar 16 1989 16:16 | 19 |
| PHOBOS Mission : Another Orbital Correction
The PHOBOS probe did investigation of Solar Oscallation,
X-Ray and Ultrviolet from the 7th to the 14 or March.
The Probe also studied the magnetic fields and characteristics
Space Plasma.
Another Orbital correction was made at 17:20 Moscow Time on
the 15th of March. The new orbit will bring it closer to the
moon PHOBOS. According to trajectory measureings made by
Soviet Ground Post in Yevpatoria and Ussuriisk, the operation
with the Martian man-made satellite was carried out
successfully. Like most TASS articles, no details of the
orbit or data collection were included
john
|
| 439.33 | PHOBOS 2 matches orbits with its target moon | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Mon Mar 20 1989 14:02 | 44 |
| Date: Sat, 18 Mar 89 23:34:39 EST
From: Glenn Chapman <glenn@ll-vlsi.arpa>
To: XB.N31@forsythe.stanford.edu, space-editors-new@andrew.cmu.edu,
yaron@astro.as.utexas.edu
Subject: USSR's Phobos II makes orbital adjustment at Mars
On Mar. 15th the USSR announced that the Phobos II probe's orbit
was adjusted to make a closer match to the orbit of the Martian moon.
This does not appear to be the final burn, which will occur shortly
before rendezvous, but just an smaller adjustment. Current passes
(Feb. 19 and Feb. 28th) yielded closest approaches of 300 - 440 Km
(188 - 275 mi), not as near as the 100 - 150 Km (63 - 94 mi) the
Russians have been desiring. After the final matching (about the end
of this month) the Soviets will eject the main retro engine section,
and last approach will be done using hydrazine thrusters. Timing for
these burns will probably be set by the next set of pictures which
should quantify the orbits of both probe and Phobos much better.
To date the only pictures that I have seen printed of Phobos were
in the New Scientist (Mar. 4). That article also described the next
Soviet Mars mission, slated now for 1994. This will use the Proton
booster (20 Tonnes to orbit), rather than the much newer Energiya (100
Tonnes to orbit) due to the reliability of the Proton (standard
conservative Soviet design - Energiya has only flown twice). The main
bus of the probe will be similar to that of the current Phobos probes,
but with two main orbital instrument sections. The first, massing 160
Kg (352 lbs), will observe Mars itself, while the second, 40 Kg
(88 lbs) will inspect the solar wind around the planet. Lander
sections will contain one or two balloon systems (probably
French/Soviet designs), which will use solar heating to lift off the
surface and fly during the day, then land at night as they cool for
ground measurements. There will also be a couple of penetrators which
will be implanted in the soil. While the article does not state it all
previous discussions have noted that there will be two such probes
launched to the planet. Considering the loss of Phobos I that
conservative approach will probably be continued by the Soviets.
The Phobos mission now within weeks of its most critical period -
can the Soviets pull it off? Nothing that I have seen in the past
few weeks says they will not.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.34 | PHOBOS 2 in synchronous orbit with target moon | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Fri Mar 24 1989 20:15 | 48 |
| Date: Thu, 23 Mar 89 00:55:38 EST
From: Glenn Chapman <glenn@ll-vlsi.arpa>
To: XB.N31@forsythe.stanford.edu, space-editors-new@andrew.cmu.edu,
yaron@astro.as.utexas.edu
Subject: Soviet Phobos II in synchronous orbit with Martian moon.
The Soviet's announced on short wave (Mar. 21) that the Phobos II
probe has made another orbit change. This burn puts the probe in
synchronous orbit with the Martian moon, making it one of the final
velocity changes before the rendezvous. This position will be
maintained for some period while additional pictures are taken of the
surface to determine the accuracy of this orbit. All of this suggests
that we are probably within a week or two of the final approach.
However, no statements were made as to the ejection of the main engine
system, which should occur just prior to rendezvous
The original plans call this for the probe to move to within 60
Km (35 mi) of Phobos and stay there with it solar cells orientated so
that the batteries may be fully charged. Then using hydrogen peroxide
jets the final run will begin with it approaching to about 2 Km (1.25
mi) of Phobos, maintaining the antenna towards Earth. Using the jets
it will aim to get within 30 to 80 m (98 - 260 feet) of the surface
and hover there for about 20 minutes. The craft at that point will be
moving about 2 - 5 m/sec (7 - 16 ft/sec) horizontally over the surface
with the laser altimeter maintaining the altitude to avoid major
surface highs. Note, the orbital velocity at the surface of phobos is
about 11 m/sec (37 ft/sec) by my calculations, so the probe is really
not in orbit about Phobos during this rendezvous. Since the
approximate mean surface gravity of Phobos is 1.6 cm/sec/sec (0.0016
Earth G). Thus it would take about 2 minutes for the probe to fall a
100 meters (330 ft) height. Also this gravity value is significantly
variable over the surface since the moon is not spherical - 28 x 23 x
20 Km ( 17 x 14 x 12 mi) as measured on the 3 major axis. The escape
velocity, by the way, is about 16 m/sec (52 ft/sec). All of this shows
that the jets will be a significant factor in maintaining that altitude.
After this period during which the photographs, laser and ion
spectrographic, radar, X-ray etc. (I will post details later)
observations are done the two landers will be release just prior to
the main probe leaving the satellite. The probe will move off 2 km
from the moon, and maintain contact with the landers. After this it
will move off to a 9700 Km (6030 mi) orbit to observe the surface.
(Phobos II orbital plans from "Race to Mars" by Miles and Booth). We
are only days away now from this attempt.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.35 | Phobos II may be Lost in Space | VMSINT::PIPER | Derrell Piper - VAX/VMS Development | Wed Mar 29 1989 02:14 | 2 |
| CNN is reporting that the Soviets have lost contact with Phobos II. Does
anyone have any additional scoop? This is really a shame if it's true...
|
| 439.36 | ET-phone home | PARITY::BIRO | | Wed Mar 29 1989 15:28 | 5 |
| The Soviets had issued a command to turn Phobos the Satellite
to get into a position to take a photo and have not heard from
it since...
john
|
| 439.37 | Details on PHOBOS 2 failure to land on moon | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Mon Apr 03 1989 16:07 | 90 |
| Date: Sat, 1 Apr 89 00:51:21 EST
From: Glenn Chapman <glenn@ll-vlsi.arpa>
To: XB.N31@forsythe.stanford.edu, space-editors-new@andrew.cmu.edu,
yaron@astro.as.utexas.edu
Subject: Soviet Phobos II probe fails just before final approach to moon
On Mar. 29th the Soviet Union's Phobos II probe suffered a fatal
failure. On Mar. 21st it had undergone the final maneuver, placing it
in synchronous orbit with the Martian moon. On Mar. 26th pictures of
Phobos had been taken from about 150 Km (94 mi) from away. On the
27/28th a second close up set was being taken. This was to generate
the final orbital measurements to insure the close approach could be
done about 1 week later. On the Phobos probes the antenna system is
not mounted on its own transport platform (as is done on most US
probes). Instead the vehicle was commanded to turn away, take the
pictures, then return contact to Earth control. However, in this case
the probe rotated away, but never came back. Compounding the problem
of regaining command was the fact that it had previously lost its main
transponder, a 50 Watt system, and was now operating on this 5 Watt
backup. Thus there are two main probable failure points, the first
being that the control system broke down thus leaving the probe unable
to get back to Earth alignment. The other possibility is that the
transmitter died, and there was no backup left. Electronic equipment
often fails just when it is turned on again, as would be the case with
this observation method (the 30 Megabit memory could hold 1100 picture
sets so there was no need to transmit these in real time). It is not
obvious which problem occurred here though some reports say that faint
signals were received from Phobos II after this failure. The NY Times
quotes Nikotal Simyonov as saying "it would be very difficult at this
point to get a response from the spacecraft". The more time the craft
is without Earth command the more likely it will lose the Sun
alignment for its solar cells, thus suffering a power deficit also.
Note that the mission was not a complete failure. Even with the
data obtained at this point the probe has produced the "the highest
quality images of yet obtained of Phobos". In addition at Mars itself
the infrared spectra give much compositionial information about the
planet's surface and atmosphere, while the planetary magnetic field
has been measured. Nevertheless there is bitter loss at missing the
Phobos landing by only a few days. (Boston Globe and New York Times,
Mar. 30)
One comment here, the researchers at the Soviet IKI institute,
which were in charge of the probe, have been pushing the line that
unmanned systems are cheaper and more reliable than manned ones. They
have been strongly suggesting that robots would be better to explore
Mars rather than a manned mission. After this high profile mission
failure they could find their case substantially harder to present in
the USSR.
[Personal note - why is it that things only go really wrong with
the Soviet program when I am off on a trip, and hence without my
shortwave. At one earlier conference the Soyuz TM-6 re-entry problem
occurred. Sorry for the delay in posting this but I just got back.]
So the Soviets failed in this attempt on Mars. It was a loss to
us all (no US probe for Phobos is scheduled yet, and probably would
not occur before 2000 AD). It will be interesting to see if they
launch a second try in the 1990 or 1992 windows, if they can analyze
the failure cause.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 89 14:07:59 PST
From: jordankatz@cdp.UUCP
Subject: NSS Hotline Update 3/31/89
/* Written 2:07 pm Apr 1, 1989 by jordankatz in cdp:sci.space */
/* ---------- "NSS Hotline Update 3/31/89" ---------- */
This is the National Space Society's Space Hotline for the week ending
March 31, 1989.
On Wed. Soviet Scientists reported that they had lost contact with
their second unmanned Mars Moon probe Phobos-2. Although all is not
lost stated some scientists, there is a slight chance of
reestablishing communications with the craft. Technicians are
determining whether it problem is a navigational error or a auxiliary
transmitter has failed. Monday April 3, the USSR will brief NASA
officials and Tue. April 4, will hold a press conference. The loss of
the spacecraft concerns would be space partners with the Soviets,
about the risk of putting to much faith in the Soviet Planetary
program. The failure should reduce some of the pressure that's been
building on the US to decide whether it wants to collaborate or go
forward with its own aggressive Mars exploration strategy.
This has been Jordan Katz reporting for the National Space Society's
Space Hotline. This message will next be updated April 7, 1989.
|
| 439.38 | Boom! | DECWIN::FISHER | Burns Fisher 381-1466, ZKO3-4/W23 | Mon Apr 03 1989 18:55 | 8 |
| It would seem likely to me that given that Phobos II was in the same orbit
with Phobos (the satellite) that sooner or later they will collide. Phobos
does have some gravity, after all, and surely their orbits did not have a
delta-period of 0.000000000... Has anyone heard anything like this from
informed sources? If so, any mention of what this might mean to future
exploration (contamination and all?)
Burns
|
| 439.39 | | STAR::HUGHES | | Mon Apr 03 1989 19:03 | 6 |
| Its worth noting that Magellan will be using it's high gain antenna for
both radar mapping and communications with Earth, so it will have to
perform similar reorientations. Hopefully, it will deal with errors
better.
gary
|
| 439.40 | What has worked besides Venera? | EPIK::BUEHLER | So much noise. So little signal. | Tue Apr 04 1989 02:55 | 7 |
| Is this why the Soviet Union is so big on manned exploration of space?
They're not having much luck with unmanned stuff, yet my understanding
is that their comonauts aren't as active as our astronauts are.
Do they just want men on board in case the automatics go?
John
|
| 439.41 | Bank Shot? | WLW::KIER | I'm the NRA - Black Powder Division | Wed Apr 05 1989 22:16 | 16 |
| Help a novice understand something that's far, far outside his
competency...
The receiver on Ph II is out of Earth alignment and cannot
therefore accept commands (programming) from Earth.
Ph II is near both Mars and Phobos (and presumably Deimos
periodically).
Would it be possible to bounce some high-gain signals off of one
or more of these bodies at the proper frequency and for long
enough to send the commands to cause Ph II to realign with Earth?
This is, of course, assuming that the problem is alignment and not
loss of Xmitter.
Mike
|
| 439.42 | A possible gyroscope failure? | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Thu Apr 06 1989 17:29 | 15 |
| Our physics professor is one of the American scientists involved
with the Phobos probe and he told us (by way of explaining why he
didn't have tests graded) that he had been meeting about the probe.
Evidently there was trouble with the gyroscope which was supposed to
keep the ship on course when it couldn't orient itself on Earth. They
had set up a spin in the craft to compensate for this problem for its
movement, but when the ship was behind Phobos they had to stop the
spin to take pictures and rely on the gyroscope. At that point they
lost contact with it. It will probably crash on Phobos. This is the
event as near as I can recollect his telling us. He works at JPL,
maybe someone there can provide more information, or correct my memory.
Eric Stokien
Astrophysicist wannabe.
|
| 439.43 | The rocky Soviet road to Mars | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Fri Apr 07 1989 14:42 | 69 |
| Although the Soviets certainly have not had the best of luck in
exploring the planet Mars with unmanned space probes - particularly
in comparison to their Venus missions - they have had at least one
completely successful Mars mission, with a number of partial successes,
and a few firsts at the Red Planet.
The only completely successful Soviet Mars probe was MARS 5,
launched in 1973 and began orbiting Mars in February of 1974. Together
with its sister probe, MARS 4, the orbiter took sixty photographs of
the planet's surface, comparable in quality to the photos taken by the
United States' MARINER 9 probe, which had studied Mars two years earlier.
The rest of the unmanned space vehicles identified as Mars probes
have not been as fortunate, but something was learned and achieved
on all those missions. During the period from 1960 to 1971, there
were also at least nine Mars attempts which did not even make it past
Earth orbit, and these were never officially identified by the Soviets
as Mars probes.
The first announced unmanned probe to Mars was launched in
November of 1962: MARS 1 got as far as 53 million kilometers from
Earth before radio contact was lost in March of 1963. It did
eventually pass Mars at a distance of 193,000 kilometers, but no
data was ever returned.
There was a nine-year gap between MARS 1 and the next "official"
Mars missions, MARS 2 and 3. Both launched early in 1971, MARS 2
reached the planet in November and went into orbit, dropping a lander
to the surface in the process. Though the lander apparently crashed
instead of soft-landing as intended, the probe does hold the distinction
of being the first human-made vehicle to reach Mars' surface. The
problem was blamed on the huge dust storm enveloping the planet at
the time, which was also affecting the observations being made by
MARINER 9, already in orbit, and MARS 3, which also placed a lander
on the surface the next month. This lander did reach the planet intact,
but only transmitted some useless data for twenty seconds before going
silent. The MARS 3 orbiter did function well, but it and its sister
probe only returned a few poor photos of the dust-shrouded planet.
The next "gap" in Soviet Mars exploration was far shorter and much
more ambitious: Four unmanned vehicles were sent to Mars in 1973 - two
orbiters (MARS 4 and 5) and two flyby/landers (MARS 6 and 7), all
arriving at their destination the next year.
MARS 4 went into a solar instead of Martian orbit when its
breaking rockets did not fire as planned. The probe did manage
to send back a few surface photos before passing its target into
interplanetary space. MARS 5 was discussed above. MARS 6 sent a
lander to the surface as the main bus flew past, but the lander
signals ceased just a few seconds before touchdown. The lander did
return information on the thin Martian atmosphere while it was
descending. MARS 7 was not able to aim its lander properly, and it
missed the Red Planet by 1,300 kilometers, sailing off into solar
orbit.
No doubt discouraged by the results of the MARS series, the
Soviets did not send another unmanned probe (not even an unofficial
attempt) until 1988, with the launchings of PHOBOS 1 and 2. Their
unfortunate demise is well-known to the Noters on SPACE.
This may come off as a bit naive, but perhaps these difficulties
will encourage the Soviets to cooperate even more with the U.S. and
other space-faring nations in planetary exploration. With our combined
technologies, studying the other worlds and eventually sending humans
to them should become a far easier task, and perhaps also ease some
political tensions through friendly cooperation.
Larry
|
| 439.44 | Did the Apollo-Soyuz mission change anything? | EPIK::BUEHLER | So much noise. So little signal. | Sat Apr 08 1989 03:51 | 10 |
| > and perhaps also ease some political tensions through friendly
> cooperation.
I doubt if politicians really consider cooperation between scientists
anything more than just a bunch of university types getting together.
There's nothing in there diplomacy-wise. I'd be willing to guess that
politicians think as little of scientists as scientists do of
politicians.
John
|
| 439.45 | Shutting down the only radio was not wise | MTWAIN::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Mon Apr 10 1989 14:09 | 14 |
| This is the National Space Society's Space Hotline for the week
ending April 7, 1989.
The Soviet Union has revealed the details of the lose of their
Mars/Phobos Moon probe at an international press conference last
Monday. They stated that spacecraft's radio transmitter which was
under program to remain silent during a photography session, was
expected to switch back on, but never did. Ground control was able to
re-establish a link for about 13 minutes till the transmitter went
silent and has been ever since.
This has been Jordan Katz reporting for the National Space
Society's Space Hotline.
|
| 439.46 | The Soviet ZOND probes | DOCO2::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Tue Apr 11 1989 18:00 | 27 |
| In my brief history of Soviet Mars probes in Note 439.43, I
inadvertently left out the contributions made by the ZOND probes.
ZOND is the Soviet word for "probe". Three probes designated
ZOND were sent to the two planets nearest Earth in the early 1960s.
ZOND 1 was a failed attempt at a Venus flyby in 1964. ZOND 2 was
launched on November 30, 1964, possibly as a flyby photographic
mission of Mars with a lander capsule. Contact was lost with ZOND 2
in April of the following year. It did pass within 1,500 kilometers
of the planet on August 6, 1965, less than one month after the
successful flyby mission of the U.S. MARINER 4 probe, which took
the first close-up photos (22 in all) of the Martian surface.
ZOND 3 was launched on July 18, 1965. Though originally intended
as a Mars probe, ZOND 3's mission was changed to an "engineering test"
when the Soviets missed the Mars launch window opportunity. ZOND 3
first flew by Earth's Moon, where it took the first photos of the
lunar farside since LUNA 3 in 1959. It then headed out into inter-
planetary space, where it continued to function and communicate out
to the orbit of Mars, though ZOND 3 was nowhere near the planet at
the time the probe crossed its orbit.
The three ZOND probes all bore a great resemblance and had similar
design functions to the VENERA probes to Venus of that time period.
Larry
|
| 439.47 | | STAR::HUGHES | | Tue Apr 11 1989 19:01 | 13 |
| re .46
Yes, 'Zond' has been used as a catchall name for various Soviet deep
space missions.
Later Zond vehicles were modified Soyuz spacecraft, launched into
circumlunar trajectories (or simulated trajectories when the moon was
180 degrees out of position for launch). It is generally believed that
these were development and rehearsal flights for a Soviet manned
(single cosmonaut) circumlunar mission that would have flown in Jan/Feb
1969 and was cancelled following the Apollo 8 mission.
gary
|
| 439.48 | Was PHOBOS 2 struck by debris in Mars orbit? | DOCO2::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Mon Apr 24 1989 14:04 | 62 |
| Date: Sun, 23 Apr 89 02:42:59 EDT
From: Glenn Chapman <glenn@ll-vlsi.arpa>
To: XB.N31@forsythe.stanford.edu, space-editors-new@andrew.cmu.edu,
yaron@astro.as.utexas.edu
Subject: Phobos II failure analysis - hit near Phobos?
The USSR has declared the Phobos II probe dead in orbit according
to Radio Moscow (Apr. 18/19). A commission has been set up to study
the failure, but some information is now available. On Mar. 27th at
3:59 p.m. Moscow Time (7:59 am EDT) the probe was ordered to turn
towards Phobos for almost the final picture set. Phobos II, which
does not have its antenna mounted on a separate pointing platform, was
to turn back to Earth for signal transmission by 6:59 - 7:05 p.m.
(AW&ST Apr. 17). However, no radio source was at time on Earth,
though at 8:50 p.m. they regained the signal for 13 min. Indications
are that it was not a transmitter failure as was first thought, though
this is the backup 5 Watt radio, not the main 50 Watt one which failed
in January. Instead, in an interview with Roald Segdeev (former
director of the Institute for Cosmic Research (IKI)), it was revealed
that the probe has been found to be rotating unexpectedly. The Soviets
suggest the probe probably collided with something near Phobos, either
particles in orbit near the moon, or possibly debris from the
separated main propulsion section (suggested by Jonathan McDowell at
Harvard). Another possibility not mentioned by the Soviets was simply
a hydrazine thruster failed (either stuck on or off). They are
worried that the probe may crash onto the Martian moon as this current
orbit is unstable, according to James Oberg (Soviet Aerospace Apr. 3).
A later short wave report stated that the Phobos II mission had
achieved 75% of the intended studies of Mars. The probe made
excellent studies of the Martian magnetic field, the plasma density
around the planet and infrared observations of the surface. However,
originally it was to stay in the original orbit with a closest
approach to the planet of 800 Km. (500 mi.) for 25 days, but only 14
days were spent before the orbit was raised to 6300 Km (3940 mi.)
This considerably reduced the accuracy of Mars observations. The probe
did obtain pictures of Phobos from less than 100 Km (63 mi.) much
closer than the Viking orbiter did at 480 Km (300 mi.). The Soviets
claim these are the best photos so far of the Martian moon. There is
some uncertainty in this as Viking had better cameras, but clearly
Phobos II took more pictures. In all the probe obviously obtained
much data, but probably it was three-quarters of the original planned
mission. Nevertheless, this was the most successful of the USSR's
Mars missions.
Indications are that the Soviets are considering using the ground
test vehicle as a full system and launching it for a duplicate mission
in 1992. The next two launch windows open in Sept. 1990 and Oct.
1992. Unfortunately, 1988 was the best launch window until 2001
(taking the least energy). Probably they would have to use what is
called a type II Hohmann transfer orbit, which is slower but takes
less energy just to be able to run a similar mission. Skipping the
1990 mission probably is necessary just to do the checkout of this
craft, and to do the programming to prevent the problems that killed
the Phobos I probe in Sept. 1988.
As Groucho Marx used to say "Close but no cigar" for this Soviet
Mars mission.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab
|
| 439.49 | Debris hit or faulty attitude control system? | RENOIR::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Mon May 15 1989 15:04 | 24 |
| From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Space news from April 10 AW&ST
Date: 15 May 89 04:18:14 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Soviets give up on Phobos 2. Some limited signals were received
after the imaging session March 27, but full contact was not regained.
Those signals are thought to have been from the omnidirectional
antenna, not the high-gain antenna, according to Dunayev (head of
Glavcosmos), and there were indications that Phobos 2 was spinning.
Attempts to command it back to normal orientation were unsuccessful
and no further signals were heard. The mission is not considered a
complete failure, since quite a bit of data was gathered earlier,
including images of Mars and Phobos. One image appears to include an
"odd-shaped object" between the spacecraft and Mars; this might be
debris in Phobos's orbit, or it could be Phobos 2's jettisoned
propulsion module. [There has been some speculation that a debris
collision might have caused the failure, given that P2 had conducted
similar imaging maneuvers earlier with no problem.]
Subversion, n: A superset | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
of a subset. --J.J. Horning | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
|
| 439.50 | "Strange" images from PHOBOS 2 | RENOIR::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Thu Jun 15 1989 22:34 | 47 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: DO IT YOURSELF SPACE PROBES PT.2
Date: 15 Jun 89 15:03:52 GMT
Reply-To: bob@etive.ed.ac.uk (Bob Gray)
Organization: Edinburgh Concurrent Supercomputer Project
In article <2393@blake.acs.washington.edu> wiml@blake.acs.washington.edu
(William Lewis) writes:
>In article <890612.21420918.098644@RMC.CP6> EDWARDJ@RMC.BITNET writes:
>>phases of the mission. [Query, did the Phobos probes fail because of the use
>>of cheap components, human error, both or neither?]
> I don't remember the reason for the other probe's failure, although I
>think it was a probe failure and not an Earth failure... (?)
A space exibition featuring some of the results from Phobos 2
opened at the Science Museum in London last week. In what they called
an exclusive report, C4 news interviewed some of the Soviet scientists
responsible for the Phobos mission.
Three very strange details of the mission were revealed:
First, a number of the images taken of an area near the equator in
the infra-red clearly show an area covered with a series of regular
rectangular features about two miles across. One of these images was
shown in the report, and is in the exhibition. (Anyone in London
reading this who has been to the exhibition and care to comment?)
Second, one of the images shown features the shadow of what could
only be one of the Martian moons. Except that there wasn't any moon in
the place and time it would have to have been to cast the shadow.
Third, Phobos 2 was transmitting an image to Earth when the signal
died. In the words of one of the scientists interviewed, it "showed
something that shouldn't have been there". The report interpreted this
to mean that the last image shows some debris in the same orbit as the
moon Phobos, and that it was collision with this that destroyed Phobos
2. The Soviets haven't released this image.
The report tried hard to avoid being identified with the "little
green men" and "faces on Mars" group, but I am surprised that the
"newspapers" which regularly feature that type of article haven't
caught onto this story yet.
Bob.
|
| 439.51 | Re.50 A missreport ? | VISA::ANDRADE | The sentinel (.)(.) | Mon Jun 19 1989 11:46 | 13 |
| Re .50
"Little green men" in Mars now that would really be something. But
I am sure this is just another case where a reporter that doesn't
know his front from his back gives a mixed up report. Remenber the
discovery of planet X.
Gil
... Or is it, wasn't I in my Mars base around then. I remember
some buzzing woke me up and I just destroyed its source in a fit.
(-; .................................................... ;-)
|
| 439.52 | RE 439.50 | RENOIR::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Wed Jun 28 1989 20:25 | 83 |
| Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Phobos pictures
Date: 26 Jun 89 16:11:11 GMT
Reply-To: nickw@syma.susx.ac.uk (Nick Watkins)
Organization: University of Sussex
In Article 6495 of sci.space bob@etive.ed.ac.uk (Bob Gray) writes:
>A space exibition featuring some of the results from Phobos 2
>opened at the Science Museum in London last week. In what
>they called an exclusive report, C4 news interviewed some of
>the Soviet scientists responsible for the Phobos mission.
>
>Three very strange details of the mission were revealed.
>
>First, a number of the images taken of an area near the
>equator in the infra-red clearly show an area covered with a
>series of regular rectangular features about two miles across.
>One of these images was shown in the report, and is in the
>exhibition. (Anyone in London reading this who has been to
>the exhibition and care to comment?)
Julie Cave asked me to post the following response for her. Please
reply to the Net or directly to her: JAC@STAR.UCL.AC.UK.
-------------------------Message Follows-------------------------
PHOBOS 2 IMAGES...COMMENTS FROM LONDON
Having heard of the exhibition of these photos at the Science
Museum, London (and the interest they were generating) I dashed off to
see them... and have to report that they are no longer there.
Apparently they were only borrowed for a few days and were then passed
on to Jodrell Bank Science Centre. I was informed that 16 (infra-red?)
photos were on loan and 4 were displayed.
On a more positive note, " The Times " became interested in
running a story on them and sent us (at the University of London
Planetary Image Centre) a copy of one of the photos for our comments.
I located the image as an area covering Latitudes -6DEG S to 4DEG N
and Longitudes 48DEG to 25DEG. The image is ~1350 km wide (measured
along the equator). For readers with access to MC-lithographs etc.,
the upper (=Northern) third of the photo is located at the bottom
centre of Oxia Palus (MC-11 SW) and the lower parts lie in
Margaritifer Sinus (MC-19 NW).
The main feature of the photo is a large area of jumbled blocks of
high land confined within a divergent channel. We examined the image
carefully and did not find any unusual features (i.e nothing that
hasn't already been studied from Mariner/Viking data) though the
feature did superficially resemble a huge sprawling city to observers
not familiar with the types of Chaotic terrain frequently seen on the
planet. The "city" is presumably what the paper were hoping we would confirm!
By careful comparison with NASA maps I identified the main central
collapse/ channel feature as Hydraotes Chaos which opens southwards
into the Northern side of the Valles Marineris. The channel running
down the left hand side is Shalbatana Vallis and the faint linear
feature between the two is Ravi Vallis. A small portion of Hydaspis
Chaos is seen in the top right hand corner,and the large area of fuzzy
Chaotic terrain, bottom right is Aureum Chaos. The chaotic crater cut
by S.Vallis is Aromatum Chaos.
The main features pass Northwards into Simud and Tiu Vallis and
thence into Chryse Planitia ( where Viking one landed ).
The albedo variations are very different to Viking images, with
the channel floor and low land between the remnant blocks of the
collapsed terrain showing up significantly darker than the rest of the
cratered uplands. The photos, if Infra-red, could be indicative of
sub-surface volatiles in these regions.
The Planetary research group here are hoping to receive details of
this experiment since our leader was one of the 3 British team
members. Considering the size of the area shown, the resolution is
pretty good . Another 3 images are believed to show other, equally
spaced sections of equatorial regions. Such information could greatly
improve our knowledge of the distribution of volatiles on Mars and
hence our understanding of the planet's history.
My supervisor and I are investigating the possibility of seeing
these images and I'll report on any developments.
|
| 439.53 | Air today, gone tomorrow? | CLIPR::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Thu Jul 27 1989 11:53 | 13 |
| VNS MAIN NEWS: [Richard De Morgan, Chief Editor, VNS]
============== [Basingstoke, England ]
Science, Technology, Medicine, and Nature
-----------------------------------------
Soviet scientists showed new photographs of the surface of Mars and
Phobos at a conference at Exeter U. Although the atmosphere of Mars is
being blown away at the rate of 4 tonnes/hr by solar wind, it is a
mystery why any atmosphere remains.
<><><><><><><> VNS Edition : 1868 Thursday 27-Jul-1989 <><><><><><><>
|
| 439.54 | Phobos in 96 | HYDRA::BIRO | | Wed Aug 23 1989 13:59 | 39 |
| According to the NY times 23 Aug the Soviets are planing
a new unmanned spacecraft to a Martian Moon in 1996. This was
announced yesterday in Pasadena, Calif., by Prof. Valery Barsukov of
the Vernadsky Institure of Geochemestry and Analytical Chemistry in
Moscow.
The scientis alos said that earlier Sovier plans to send a manned
mission to Mars by the year 2015 were not realistic. " That is
somethng we have to leave for our children t do".
After the launch to Mars in 1994 the Soviet will try to finish the
unfinished mission of Phobos. He claims that the two Phobos failed
when one was fed a erroneous command, and the second has not been
explained.
The new mission will use a different scientific payload, Dr. Barsukov
said. As before, sthey will try to retrieve soild samples from Phobos.
Phobos 1, he said, fell victim to a computer glitch. "It happened that
some programs were left in the computer's memory, programs not needed
for this mission, acomputer programmer activated those programs by
mistake.
Phobos 2, failed March 27, there are two main theories why,
1) the computer may have suffered a power failure when the batteries on
board broke down
2) the computer may have been bombarded by charged particles frm the
Sun.
Prof. Kremnnev said future Soviet spacecraft will be redesigned to
avoide such problems....
I find this hard to believe as all Soviet Militrary Space Craft
use Radiation Harden Parts... Even before the US considered this
a problem....
john
|
| 439.55 | Soviet Plans | VOSTOK::LEPAGE | Truth travels slowly | Tue Aug 29 1989 13:44 | 52 |
| Re: .54
Some additional information about future Soviet planetary
exploration plans has been announced by Valery L. Barksukov:
- 1994
The 1994 mission to Mars has been scaled back as a result of
time and cost constraints. Now each Mars '94 spacecraft will consist of
an orbiter, a balloon, and several small surface stations (the original
plan called for an orbiter and an as yet unproven large probe which would
have carried two balloons and a large lander or rover). The smaller
entry probe will be based on design used to "return payloads to Earth".
The orbiter will use the same type of bus used in the Phobos '88
mission but with several modifications:
>Use of a seperate control system computer.
>Ability for autonomous attitude recovery.
>Addition of an omni directional radio link.
>Addition of backup batteries.
These changes combined with competition between spacecraft
manufacturers and more user control of the design should help avoid the
problems encountered in the Phobos '88 mission.
Two spacecraft will be launched by a Proton rocket in October, 1994
and will arrive at Mars in September, 1995. The orbit is planned to be
inclined 100 degrees with a period of 12 hours, an apoapsis of 20,000
km (12,400 mi), and a periapsis of 200 to 500 km (125 to 310 mi).
The mission will cost about 300 million roubles ($480 million at the
official exchange rate. Mission approval is expected by the end of the
year. A decision on the type of "surface station" (i.e. penetrator or a
soft lander) is expected in 1990.
- 1996
The Soviets will try to reach Phobos again in 1996 this time to
collect samples and actually return them to Earth. As before, the
spacecraft will use the same bus used in the Phobos '88 mission. In
this mission it is likely that the entire spacecraft will land on
Phobos take a sample and have a small 100 kg return unit bring the
sample to Earth. After the sample is sent, the craft would remain on
Phobos for further observations.
-1998
The Soviets will return to Venus but this time they plan to place 6
to 8 penetrators (each weighing 50 kg) over the surface of the planet.
In addition, the orbiter (a Phobos bus) will carry about 350 kg of
instrumentation for orbital studies of Venus.
-2002 or 2003
The Soviets plan to launch a probe that will orbit Mercury and
explore its surface using either a single large lander or a network of
penetrators. The penetrators, if used, would carry panoramic cameras
and soil instruments. The spacecraft will use a gravity assist flyby
of Venus to reach its target as did the American Mariner 10 in 1974.
Drew
|
| 439.56 | Details on the loss of PHOBOS 1 and 2 | RENOIR::KLAES | N = R*fgfpneflfifaL | Thu Sep 14 1989 21:04 | 58 |
| From: hartley@AIC.NRL.NAVY.MIL (Ralph Hartley)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Phobos 2
Date: 14 Sep 89 12:07:31 GMT
Organization: The Internet
From SCIENCE Vol 245, 8 September 1989 p1045
On 27 March ... the [PHOBOS 2] spacecraft was passing near Phobos
for what was, by then a routine session of imaging. "It was on
automatic operation" he [Kremnev, Director of the Soviet Spacecraft
Manufacturing Plant] said. "To conserve energy, the transmitter was
off during imaging. But at the time it was due to restart, no signal
was heard on Earth." the control group hurriedly sent up emergency
commands," Kremnev said, and they indeed were able to reestablish
contact. "They got 17 minutes of telemetry data. But the spacecraft
was tumbling so that the only communication was through the
spacecraft's small antenna. Therefore they couldn't decipher the
telemetry. Then they lost the telemetry". Phobos 2 was never heard
from again.
But since then, said Kremnev, "Considerable time has been taken,
and we have been successful in deciphering the telemetry." There is
now no doubt that the failure lay in the spacecraft's on board
computer, he said, and was not due to, say, a meteoroid collision.
"After the failure of Phobos," he said, "People at Babakan said 'We
have luck only with women - not spacecraft!'"
Kremnev also offered new details as to how the Phobos 1 spacecraft
was lost last year on the way to Mars. As part of the ground checkout
prior to launch, he said, the spacecraft computer had been loaded with
a program for testing its steering. Once the test was completed, of
course, the program was no long[er] needed. However it was in
"firmware" - read-only memory - which could only be cleared with
special electronics equipment. "We would have had to remove the
computer from the spacecraft and take it to the people who could do
it," said Kremnev. "[But] we had VERY little time before the voyage.
So the program was 'locked in a safe.'" That is, it was sealed off and
rendered harmless by other software in the spacecraft computer.
Unfortunately, said Kremnev, "the key was found to unlock the
safe." On 29 August 1988, not long after launch, a ground controller
omitted a single letter in a series of digital commands sent to the
spacecraft. And by malignant bad luck, that omission caused the code
to be mistranslated in just such a way as to trigger the test
sequence. Phobos 1 went into a tumble that was not noticed until the
next attempt at contact, 2 days later. It was never recovered. Kremnev
said that future versions will have more on-board safeguards.
And what happened to the controller who made the error? Well
Kremnev told SCIENCE with a dour expression, he did not go to jail or
to Siberia. In fact, it was he who eventually tracked down the error
in the code. Nontheless, said Kremnev, "he was not able to participate
in the later operation of Phobos 2."
Ralph Hartley
hartley@aic.nrl.navy.mil
|
| 439.57 | Mars 1994 Approved | VOSTOK::LEPAGE | Truth travels slowly | Wed Nov 01 1989 16:01 | 7 |
|
The Soviet Union has approved funding and development of the Mars
1994 mission. This mission will carry balloons developed jointly by the
Soviet Union, the French National Space Agency (CNES), and the
Planetary Society. See 439.55 for mission details.
Drew
|
| 439.58 | Using Phobos to explore Mars | VERGA::KLAES | Slaves to the Metal Hordes | Wed Jul 08 1992 16:14 | 380 |
| Article: 45583
From: higgins@fnalc.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Phobos as a fuel supply.
Date: 2 Jul 92 03:51:48 GMT
Sender: news@fnnews.fnal.gov
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
In article <1992Jul2.130029.9112@waikato.ac.nz>, pjs1@waikato.ac.nz writes:
> water on
> the martian moons. As the delta-v from the moons to LEO is relatively small, a
> water processing plant on the moons could provide propellant for other
> missions, eg lunar/martian bases.
> I have seen nothing on Phobos and Deimos that either confirms or denies
> the presence of water upon them. Has there been, or is there intended to be
> any effort to investigate the moons for water?
Water on Phobos and Deimos was a fond hope that was part of the "PhD
strategy" (get it?) advocated by S. Fred Singer, with Brian O'Leary
chiming in. For some details, see the *Case for Mars* books, I think
the second one has Singer's proposal, and the third one (which comes
in two volumes) has O'Leary's.
It was claimed that the spectrum of Phobos was close to that of
carbonaceous chondrites (a type of meteorite), which contain carbon,
hydrated minerals, and other relatively volatile material. The right
kind of processing could extract hydrogen from the rocks of Phobos if
this were true.
Look at the results from the Soviet Phobos 2 probe, published in an
issue of *Nature* (perhaps early 1989?). I seem to remember that
these contradicted the carbonaceous-chondrite hypothesis, but I'm not
sure. The spacecraft was intended to drop a lander which would
analyze the soil, but unfortunately stopped working after only a few
weeks in Mars orbit. (Either something broke, or Martian saucers shot
it down-- the evidence is not clear. I know which way *I'd* bet.)
> I think that this would be an ideal
> mission for one of the small explorer satellites. A failure would not be
> catastrophic, but a success would give us a rather nice stepping stone to
> permanent manned presence in space.
In some ways it would be even nicer than finding water on the Moon,
since the delta-v to send the hydrogen anyplace else would be lower.
A hydrogen plant on Phobos or Deimos could really open up the solar
system (assuming there was enough interplanetary traffic to make a
serious demand).
"Read my lips, Hal: Bill Higgins
Open the Pod Bay doors!" Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET
SPAN/Hepnet: 43011::HIGGINS
Internet: HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV
Article: 45597
From: higgins@fnalo.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Phobos as a fuel supply.
Date: 2 Jul 92 08:36:25 GMT
Sender: news@fnnews.fnal.gov
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
In article <1992Jul2.061733.11020@citec.oz.au>, sgccpgs@citec.oz.au
(Paul Salanitri) writes:
> pjs1@waikato.ac.nz writes:
> : the presence of water on the martian moons.
> : As the delta-v from the moons to LEO is relatively small, a
> : water processing plant on the moons could provide propellant for other
> : missions, eg lunar/martian bases.
> <rest deleted>
> "LEO" around Mars???
> interesting
*BZZZZT* Wrong, Mr. Salanitri, but thank you for playing...
He means what he said: the delta-v from Phobos, or from Deimos, to Low
Earth Orbit is small. This means that if you could make propellant
there, it would be a bargain (considering delta-v costs only).
This basic fact is behind Singer's "PhD" scheme: don't bother to land
people on Mars, land on Phobos and use it as a space station for
resource extraction and control of teleoperated rovers and
sample-return rockets on the Martian surface. Reduces contamination
and quarantine worries, reduces propellant costs, makes a nice mix of
people and machines.
Some of the luster is gone though. I'll post another message on that.
Bill Higgins, Beam Jockey | According to the doctrine
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory | of natural selection,
Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET | *you* were designed
Internet: HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV | by a committee.
SPAN/Hepnet: 43011::HIGGINS | The biggest committee ever.
Article: 45598
From: higgins@fnalo.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Phobos 2 search for water (was Re: Phobos as a fuel supply.)
Date: 2 Jul 92 08:39:07 GMT
Sender: news@fnnews.fnal.gov
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
I've found the references... The issue of *Nature* containing a bunch
of papers from the Soviet Phobos 2 mission is v. 341, p. 581-617.
There are also two short one-page summaries on p. 564 and 565. (These
are illustrated by a picture of Mars's larger satellite, with the
caption: The eponymous Phobos.
Ah, I love the British.)
The water issue (does Phobos resemble a carbonaceous chondrite, with
lots of hydrated minerals?) comes up on p. 593, in the article
"Results from the ISM experiment." There's a water hydration band at 3
micrometers in the infrared. The Imaging Spectometer team says:
The preliminary analysis of the two data sets of Phobos shows that
the albedo of Phobos is about four times lower than that of the
Tharsis Plateau surrounding Pavonis Mons, and that the hydration
signature is much weaker on Phobos than on Mars. Both the very
low albedo and hydration indicate a relationship with the most
evolved carbonaceous chondrites (C4), rather than the water-rich
ones (C1 and C2). On a kilometre scale, the hydration and silicate
features exhibit variations of up to 10%.
"More evolved" means "heated," with much of the water content cooked
out. Presumably these guys published a more detailed analysis at some
point... I wonder where? Anyway, this suggests that water is not
plentiful in the regolith of Phobos.
However, William B. McKinnon's summary on p. 565 discusses the imaging
results disclosed on pages 585-587:
It is also interesting to note that the Phobos mission indicates
that the moon's density is about 1.95 g/cm^3, which is somewhat
less than that determined by Viking. The imaging team reports that
this is consistent with substantial internal porosity for a rcock
body, which is true, but some noted astronomers still favour an
icy interior. Paradoxically, an icy interior would not conflict
with a dry surface, because this is what is expected of outer belt
asteroids according to current thinking.
Here McKinnon cites L.A. Lebovsky's paper on page 192-229 of *Origin
and Evolution of Planet and Satellite Atmospheres*, edited by S. K. Atreya
and others, one of those wonderful University of Arizona Press books.
Cooked on the outside, wet on the inside? Anybody reading this on the
Washington University campus? Want to call up Prof. McKinnon and find
out the 1992 view of water on Phobos?
Submarines, flying boats, robots, talking Bill Higgins
pictures, radio, television, bouncing radar Fermilab
vibrations off the moon, rocket ships, and HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET
atom-splitting-- all in our time. But nobody HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV
has yet been able to figure out a music SPAN: 43011::HIGGINS
holder for a marching piccolo player.
--Meredith Willson, 1948
Article: 45570
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: tjn32113@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Thomas J. Nugent)
Subject: Re: What is TSS
Sender: usenet@news.cso.uiuc.edu (Net Noise owner)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1992 21:30:22 GMT
richard@technology.com (Richard Murphy) writes:
>For the person inquiring about TSS, here is a short explanation.
>The Tethered Satellite System is a joint NASA/Italian experiment
>to study the electrodynamics of tethers in space and also the
>orbital dynamics. The tether is about 20km of coaxial cable
>attached to a satellite that contains several instrument
>packages to measure charged particles, magnetic fields, tether
>voltage and current and other things. For TSS-1, one goal will be
>to see how much current is induced in the tether as it moves through
>the earth's magnetic field. Another will be to determine if
>the tether is stable or not. It will be hard to damp undesired
>tether movements in 10km of cable! The deployer part (in the
>shuttle bay) also carries additional experiments which cover
>much of the same areas as those on the satellite.
The instruments in the body (the "satellite") will be performing measurements
in part of the upper atmosphere (I can't remember the name) that can't be
reached by balloons (too high) or the Shuttle (too low). I'm not sure which
is considered more important by the mission planners - the atmospheric part
or the improvement of our knowledge of tethers.
"We spent most of the way home discussing what color the moon was."
- Eugene Cernan
"Wishing for something does not make it so."
- Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
--
"To be average scares the hell out of me." -- Anonymous
Tom Nugent e-mail: tjn32113@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Article: 2462
From: szabo@techbook.com (Nick Szabo)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.geo.geology
Subject: Re: Phobos as a fuel supply.
Date: 3 Jul 92 08:55:33 GMT
Organization: TECHbooks --- Public Access UNIX --- (503) 644-8135
In article <1992Jul2.130029.9112@waikato.ac.nz> pjs1@waikato.ac.nz writes:
> A paper I have just finished reading, discussed a (to me) new approach
>to expansion in space. Basically it revolves arround the presence of water on
>the martian moons.
Could you post the reference? Thanks.
If true, this would revolutionize space development, including greatly
reducing the cost of Mars missions and Moon bases. Except for
atmospheric CO2, ice is the easiest material to process into
propellant, shielding, and other useful goods. During good launch
windows, the delta-v of Phobos to/from LEO is comparable to the lunar
surface.
Phobos and Deimos are type-C asteroids, but unlike other asteroids
reaccrete their regolith as they orbit around Mars. Frozen ice
surviving at 1.9 AU for several hundred million years seems improbable.
Has the equilibrium temperature of Phobos been computed? What is the
radiation budget for Phobos? I suspect it a bit more than an
asteroid with a circular orbit at 1.9 AU, due to reradiation from Mars.
The best way to find hidden ice might be to shoot a very fast, heavy
object to disrupt Phobos' surface, but it is difficult to get something
heavy enough with our current capabilities.
Does anybody have information on any experiments with Mars Observer
for Phobos and Deimos?
--
szabo@techbook.COM Public Access User --- Not affiliated with TECHbooks
Public Access UNIX and Internet at (503) 644-8135 (1200/2400, N81)
Article: 2463
From: higgins@fnalc.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.geo.geology
Subject: PhD mission bibliography (was Re: Phobos as a fuel supply.)
Date: 4 Jul 92 05:41:59 GMT
Sender: news@fnnews.fnal.gov
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
In article <1992Jul3.085533.15608@techbook.com>, szabo@techbook.com
(Nick Szabo) writes:
> In article <1992Jul2.130029.9112@waikato.ac.nz> pjs1@waikato.ac.nz writes:
>
>> A paper I have just finished reading, discussed a (to me) new approach
>>to expansion in space. Basically it revolves arround the presence of water on
>>the martian moons.
>
> Could you post the reference? Thanks.
The evidence that Phobos is similar to carbonaceous chondrites
apparently starts with Pang, Pollack, Ververka, Lane, and Ajello,
"The Compostion of Phobos: Evidence for Carbonaceous Chondrite
Surface from Spectral Analysis," *Science*, 199, Jan. 6 1978, p. 64-66.
I already posted references to the Soviet results in another message.
I got the Case for Mars books down from the shelf, threw them in the
car, and hauled them to this workstation, just for your benefit, Nick.
The Case for Mars conferences were organized by the famous Mars
Underground, led by University of Colorado grad students who went on
to become NASA scientists.
CFM1 is *The Case for Mars*, edited by Penelope J. Boston, volume
57 in the American Astronautical Society Science and Technology
Series, published by Univelt, 1984. Results from the 1981 CFM
Conference.
CFM2 is *The Case for Mars II*, edited by Christopher P. McKay, volume
62 in the American Astronautical Society Science and Technology
Series, published by Univelt, 1985. Results from the 1984 CFMC.
CFM3GIO is *The Case for Mars III: Strategies for Exploration--
General Interest and Overview*, edited by Carol Stoker, volume 74 in
the American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series,
published by Univelt, 1989. Results from the 1987 CFMC.
CFM3T is *The Case for Mars III: Strategies for Exploration--
Technical*, edited by Carol Stoker, volume 75 in the American
Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series, published by
Univelt, 1989. Results from the 1987 CFMC.
The fourth CFMC was held in 1990, I think, but I don't know whether
the preceedings are out yet.
Singer, S. Fred, "The PhD Proposal: A Manned Mission to Phobos and
Deimos," CFM1, p. 39-65. (This is the one to read if you only read one.)
Singer, S. Fred, "The PhD Project in Perspective", CFM2, p 207.
O'Leary, Brian, "Phobos and Deimos as Resource and Exploration
Centers," CFM2, p.225.
Adelman, Saul J. and Adelman, Benjamin, "The Case for Phobos," CFM2, p. 245.
O'Leary, Brian, "Mars 1999: A concept for Low-Cost Near-Term Human
Exploration and Propellant Processing on Phobos and Deimos," CFM3GIO,
p. 353. (O'Leary wrote a pop book called *Mars 1999* (Stackpole Books)
which covers his version of these ideas.)
Cordell, Bruce M., "The Phobos/Deimos Mission Workshop: A Summary,"
CFM3T, p. 601-604.
In Cordell's workshop summary we get a couple of references to papers
in *Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century*, edited by
Wendell Mendell, published by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (and
recently marked down from twenty bucks to a mere fifteen! Get yours
today!). You might say this book is the manifesto of the Moon
Underground. There was a second conference in 1988, but no proceedings
volume yet.
Cordell, Bruce M., "The Moons of Mars: A Source for Water for Lunar
Bases and LEO"
O'Leary, Brian, "Phobos and Deimos as Resource and Exploration Centers"
(either Cordell has made a typo, or O'Leary submitted a paper with the
same title to two different conferences in the same year...)
(I should probably mention that Univelt, Inc., P.O. Box 28130, San Diego, CA
92128 publishes lots of technical books on spaceflight, especially the AAS
series. They often offer a substantial discount on their older titles.
Content of the books varies a lot in quality; *caveat emptor*.)
The PhD proposals involved putting humans on the moons without landing
them on Mars. There they would investigate the moons by eyeball and
run a fleet of Mars rovers and sample return landers by teleoperation.
It's a little frustrating to get within 6000 kilometers of Mars after
crossing millions of kilometers to get there.
When I explain this in my lectures, I usually include a slide of the
Marx Brothers in *A Night at the Opera*, trying to pose as famous
transatlantic aviators.
"First, we take off, we get half-a-way across, we run outta gas,"
Chico explains. "So we gotta go back.
"Next, we take-a more gas. We get almost to the other side-- one mile
from shore-- we run outta gas again. We gotta go back.
"This time, we no take-a chances. We take-a da boat."
O~~* /_) ' / / /_/ ' , , ' ,_ _ \|/
- ~ -~~~~~~~~~~~/_) / / / / / / (_) (_) / / / _\~~~~~~~~~~~zap!
/ \ (_) (_) / | \
| | Bill Higgins Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
\ / Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET
- - Internet: HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV
~ SPAN/Hepnet: 43011::HIGGINS
Article: 2472
From: fcrary@ocf.berkeley.edu (Frank Crary)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.geo.geology
Subject: Re: Phobos as a fuel supply.
Date: 6 Jul 1992 00:19:39 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
In article <samw.710376351@bucket> samw@bucket.rain.com (Sam Warden) writes:
>>Except for atmospheric CO2, ice is the easiest material to process
>>into propellant, shielding, and other useful goods.
>CO2? This is the first I've heard from you on _that_. Can you elaborate?
By compressing and heating carbon dioxide, it is possible to convert
it into carbon monoxide and oxygen. It is quite possible to run
rockets on a carbon dioxide/oxygen mixtrue. The specific impules of
the rockets is poor (270 sec.), but the fuel requires only a little
machinery and 3 kilowatt-hours of power/kg to produce.
Frank Crary
UC Berkeley
|