CCCP - Venera-13 / Venera-14 stamp.
Nov. 4, 2021
40 years ago, on November 4, 1981, the robotic interplanetary probe Venera-14 went into space to land on the surface of the most fiery planet in the solar system and transmit the first ever color images from its surface. The station was developed by engineers of the S.A. Lavochkin (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation).
Venera-14
In the 1980s of the last century, the scientific program "Venus" was actively developing in the USSR, the first spacecraft of the series were already launched, which flew past the planet and made the first soft landing. When developing the upcoming stations, the engineers faced the most difficult task: to carry out soil sampling and its comprehensive analysis in conditions of high temperatures. By that time, it was known about the caustic atmosphere of Venus and the terrible conditions on its surface, where the temperature reaches 500 C, and the pressure is a hundred times higher than that of the Earth.
Such a task required innovative solutions and partial changes in the design of the apparatus. To test them, the engineers made 18 experimental machines of the station and carried out many tests.
The total mass of the Venera-14 spacecraft was 4394.5 kg. The mass of the descent vehicle is 1632.71 kg, the mass of the lander on the surface of Venus is 750 kg. Corrective propulsion system "Venera-14" is filled with 641.35 kg of fuel: 225.8 kg of fuel and 415.55 kg of oxidizer. The launch to Venus was carried out from an intermediate near-earth orbit with an altitude of 178 by 159 km. The impulse of the second switching on of the engine of the DM unit was 3990.5 m / s. On November 4, at 9 hours 53 minutes 50.6 seconds, the apparatus separated from the upper stage.
On November 14, the first correction of the Venus-14 trajectory was carried out. The correction impulse was 7.3 m / s, which was within the tolerance, while the engine worked at low thrust for 4.1 seconds. Fuel consumption was 15.05 kg. A month before landing, checks began on the relay modes on the decimeter channel, turning on the centimeter and meter channels of the radio complex, as well as EA 079 tape recorders, on which information received from the descent vehicles was to be recorded.
With the approach to Venus, operations began to prepare the descent vehicle for landing. Due to the increase in the heat flux from the Sun on January 4, 1982, the shutter of the radiation heater of the descent vehicle was closed. On February 19, the automatic blocking of the cold circuit of the descent vehicle was turned on and the fan was turned off, and on March 2, a regular cooling was carried out immediately for 11 hours, which made it possible to increase the operating time of the PA on the planet's surface. As a result, the temperature inside the instrument container at the time of separation of the descent vehicle from the flight vehicle was −14.5 ° C.
On February 25, the second correction of the Venera-14 trajectory was carried out. During the operation of the propulsion system, the on-board transmitter was turned off, and telemetry information was recorded on the on-board tape recorder. After reverse turns of the vehicle to the initial spatial position, which was before the correction, the transmitter turned on according to the PVU mark.
The Venera-14 lander landed on the planet's surface ~ 1000 km from the Venera-13 landing vehicle. The coordinates of the landing point of the spacecraft were 13 ° 15 'south latitude (nominal –16 ° ± 1 °) and 310 ° 09' longitude (nominal 314 ° ± 1 °). For the first 4 minutes, the VB02 MSU worked, while information about its operation and the operation of the "Peanut" equipment was transmitted to the Earth. Then the telephotometer covers were thrown off, and the transmission of images interspersed with TM information from other devices began.
56 minutes after landing, a full cycle of filming the surface of Venus with the second telephotometer ended (the first one finished at the 31st minute). At the 57th minute, the extraction of useful information from the signal received from the lander stopped due to a decrease in its level below the threshold. Thus, the program of operation of the Venera-14 descent vehicle was completed in full.
Artist's view of Venera-14
In the following days after landing, the information received from the descent vehicle and recorded on the on-board tape recorders was reproduced. Subsequently, communication sessions with the Venera-14 spacecraft were carried out once every 3-5 days and were mainly devoted to the reproduction of scientific information recorded in standby mode from tape recorders. Thus, work continued on the study of interplanetary space. In particular, studies of X-rays, gamma rays and magnetic fields in outer space, characteristics of the solar wind, cosmic rays and interplanetary plasma continued. The last communication session with "Venus-14" was held on April 9, 1983. The program was implemented successfully and in full.
Related article:
40th anniversary of the "Venus-13" mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/10/40th-anniversary-of-venus-13-mission.html
Related links:
ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/33225/
Venus: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/venera/
NPO Lavochkin: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/npo-lavochkina/
Images, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
Greetings, Orbiter.ch
