Zond 2

Zond 2.jpg
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(1965) Zond 2 was an automatic interplanetary station launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (64-078A) in Earth parking orbit towards Mars to test space-borne systems and to carry out scientific investigations. The probe carried a descent craft and the same instruments as the Mars 1 flyby spacecraft: a magnetometer probe, television photographic equipment, a spectroreflectometer , radiation sensors (gas-discharge and scintillation counters), a spectrograph to study ozone absorption bands, and a micrometeoroid instrument. The spacecraft had six experimental low-thrust electrojet plasma ion engines that served as actuators of the attitude control system and could be used instead of the gas engines to maintain orientation. Power was provided by two solar panels.

Zond 2 took a long curving trajectory towards Mars to minimize the relative velocity. The electronic ion engines were successfully tested shortly after launch under real space environment conditions over the period December 8-18, 1964. One of the two solar panels failed so only half the anticipated power was available to the spacecraft. After a mid-course maneuver, communications with the spacecraft were lost in early May, 1965. The spacecraft flew by Mars on 6 August 1965 at a distance of 1500 km and a relative speed of 5.62 km/s.

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Mars Viking 22e169.png

Original Caption Released with NASA Image:

Photo from Viking Lander 2 shows late-winter frost on the ground on Mars around the lander. The view is southeast over the top of Lander 2, and shows patches of frost around dark rocks. The surface is reddish-brown; the dark rocks vary in size from 10 centimeters (four inches) to 76 centimeters (30 inches) in diameter. This picture was obtained September 25, 1977. The frost deposits were detected for the first time 12 Martian days (sols) earlier in a black-and-white image. Color differences between the white frost and the reddish soil confirm that we are observing frost. The Lander Imaging Team is trying to determine if frost deposits routinely form due to cold night temperatures, then disappear during the warmer daytime. Preliminary analysis, however, indicates the frost was on the ground for some time and is disappearing over many days. That suggests to scientists that the frost is not frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) but is more likely a carbon dioxide clathrate (six parts water to one part carbon dioxide). Detailed studies of the frost formation and disappearance, in conjunction with temperature measurements from the lander’s meteorology experiment, should be able to confirm or deny that hypothesis, scientists say.