Mars 8

Launch data: Designation 96064A Launch date 16 Nov 1996 - 20:48:53 UTC Launch vehicle Proton-K/D-2 Launch site Baikonur, LC-200L Satellite type  - Mission Mars probe Perigee / Apogee  110 x 340 km Inclination  51.6 deg Period   min

Specifications: Prime contractor  Lavochkin Association Platform  M1 spacecraft bus Operator  IKI (the Russian Space Research Institute) Mass at launch 6825 kg Dry mass kg Dimension   Basic shape   Solar array

End of live:

Descriptions:

• The Russian Mars 96 mission was designed to send an orbiter, two small autonomous stations, and two surface penetrators to Mars to investigate the evolution and contemporary physics of the planet by studying the physical and chemical processes which took place in the past and which currently take place. The Mars 96 Orbiter was a 3-axis sun/star stabilized craft based on the Phobos design with two platforms for pointing and stabilizing instruments. The propulsion units were mounted on the bottom and two large solar panels extended out from opposite sides of the craft. The two penetrators were mounted on the bottom by the propulsion system, the two small stations were connected on top of the spacecraft, and a dish antenna extended off one of the sides perpendicular to the solar panels. The Mars 96 spacecraft had a launch mass (including propellant) of 6180 kg. Mars 96 was scheduled to arrive at Mars on 12 September 1997, about 10 months after launch, on a direct trajectory. About 4 to 5 days before arrival the small surface stations would have been released. The orbiter was to go into an elliptical 3-day transfer orbit about Mars, and the two penetrators to descend to the surface during the first month of orbit. The final orbit would have been a 14.77 hour elliptical orbit with a periapsis of 300 km.
• The Mars 96 Orbiter carried 12 instruments to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars, 7 instruments to study plasma, fields, and particles, and 3 instruments for astrophysical studies. There were also radio science, a navigation TV camera, and a radiation and dosimetry control complex. The instruments were located directly on the sides of the craft, on one of the two platforms attached to the sides of the craft, or on the edges of the solar panels.
• The Mars-96 space probe will arrive at Mars on 1997 Sep 12, around the same time as Mars Global Surveyor. Four days before orbit insertion, it will release two small landers which will descend to the planet's surface. After Mars-96 enters Mars orbit, it will fire two penetrator probes into the surface, and lower its orbital period to enter an operational orbit of around 900 x 18200 km with a 12 hour orbital period.

Mission:

• The Mars-96 spacecraft was launched on Nov 16, 1996 and is now on its way to Mars. Now NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and the Russian Space Agency's Mars-96 are both en route to the Red Planet, with NASA's Mars Pathfinder due to follow next month.
• The 8K82K Proton-K rocket, built by the Krunichev enterprise, took off from pad 200L at Kosmodrom Baikonur in Kazakstan at 2048:53 UTC on Nov 16. The Proton-K is a three stage rocket. Ten minutes after launch, the third stage separated from the payload which was at that point 145 km high on a suborbital trajectory. The payload included a fourth stage, the 11S824F Blok-D-2 built by RKK Energiya. The Blok-D-2 ignited at 2103 UTC and burnt out at 2105 UTC, placing itself and the attached space vehicle in a 148 x 158 km x 51.5 deg parking orbit around the Earth.
• The Blok-D-2 made a successful first burn, entering a 160 km circular orbit. On the second burn, possibly because of incorrect commands sent by the probe, it burned for only a few seconds before shutting down, and the probe remained in a lower perigee Earth parking orbit of 145 x 171 km x 51.6 deg. Mars-96 separated from the Blok-D-2 and fired its own ADU engine, entering an elliptical 87 x 1500 km orbit. It made two revolutions of the Earth in this orbit and reentered a few hours later, somewhere over the South Pacific, at around 0132 UTC Nov 17. This piece, the M1 No. 520 probe with the two MAS landers and two Penetrator probes, was tracked by Russian radars but missed by US Space Command. The Blok-D-2 rocket stage reentered over the South Pacific at 31 S 96 W (US data) or 50.9 S 168 W (Russian data) a day later, at 0120 UTC Nov 18.
• The M1 spacecraft bus is based on the 1F spacecraft used for the Fobos missions, and includes an ADU propulsion unit. The ADU is used both for solar orbit insertion and for Mars orbit insertion.
• The Mars 96 crashed within a presumed 320 km by 80 km area which includes parts of the Pacific Ocean, Chile, and Bolivia. The Russian Mars 96 mission was designed to send an orbiter, two small autonomous stations, and two surface penetrators to Mars.
• The excitement on Sunday about possible radioactive debris reentering over Australia or Chile was apparently misplaced, since the payload had reentered the previous day and Space Command was only tracking the rocket. There were four small plutonium RTG batteries aboard the two MAS landers, with 15 g of Pu-238 each. The two penetrator probes each carried five of the RTG batteries. The RTGs were designed to survive reentry and the probability of contamination is considered low.