Mockup of the Venera 1 spacecraft
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| Mission type | Venus impactor |
|---|---|
| Operator | OKB-1 |
| Harvard designation | 1961 Gamma 1 |
| COSPAR ID | 1961-003A  |
| SATCAT no. | 80 |
| Mission duration | 7 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | 1VA No.2 |
| Manufacturer | OKB-1 |
| Launch mass | 6,424.0 kilograms (14,162.5 lb) |
| Dry mass | 643.5 kilograms (1,419 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | February 12, 1961, 00:34:36 (1961-02-12UTC00:34:36Z) UTC |
| Rocket | Molniya 8K78 |
| Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | 19 February 1961 (1961-02-20) |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Heliocentric |
| Eccentricity | 0.173 |
| Perihelion altitude | 0.718 AU |
| Aphelion altitude | 1.019 AU |
| Inclination | 0.58° |
| Period | 311 days |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | 19 May 1961 |
| Distance | 100,000 km (62,000 mi) |
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Venera 1 (Russian: Венера-1 meaning Venus 1), also known as Venera-1VA No.2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 8 was the first spacecraft to perform an interplanetary flight and the first to fly past Venus, as part of the Soviet Union's Venera programme.[1] Launched in February 1961, it flew past Venus on 19 May of the same year; however, radio contact with the probe was lost before the flyby, resulting in it returning no data.
Venera 1 was a 643.5-kilogram (1,419 lb) probe consisting of a cylindrical body 1.05 metres (3 ft 5 in) in diameter topped by a dome, totalling 2.035 metres (6 ft 8.1 in) in height. This was pressurized to 1.2 standard atmospheres (120 kPa) with dry nitrogen, with internal fans to maintain even distribution of heat.[citation needed] Two solar panels extended from the cylinder, charging a bank of silver-zinc batteries. A 2-metre (6 ft 7 in) parabolic wire-mesh antenna was designed to send data from Venus to Earth on a frequency of 922.8 MHz. A 2.4-metre (7 ft 10 in) antenna boom was used to transmit short-wave signals during the near-Earth phase of the mission. Semidirectional quadrupole antennas mounted on the solar panels provided routine telemetry and telecommand contact with Earth during the mission, on a circularly-polarized decimetre radio band.
The probe was equipped with scientific instruments including a flux-gate magnetometer attached to the antenna boom, two ion traps to measure solar wind, micrometeorite detectors, and Geiger counter tubes and a sodium iodide scintillator for measurement of cosmic radiation. An experiment attached to one solar panel measured temperatures of experimental coatings. Infrared and/or ultraviolet radiometers may have been included. The dome contained a KDU-414 engine used for mid-course corrections. Temperature control was achieved by motorized thermal shutters.
During most of its flight, Venera 1 was spin stabilized. It was the first spacecraft designed to perform mid-course corrections, by entering a mode of 3-axis stabilization, fixing on the Sun and the star Canopus. Had it reached Venus, it would have entered another mode of 3-axis stabilization, fixing on the Sun and Earth, and using for the first time a parabolic antenna to relay data.
Venera 1 was the second of two attempts to launch a probe to Venus in February 1961, immediately following the launch of its sister ship Venera-1VA No.1,[2] which failed to leave Earth orbit.[3] Soviet experts launched Venera-1 using a Molniya carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch took place at 00:34:36 GMT on 12 February 1961.[4]
The spacecraft, along with the rocket's Blok-L upper stage, was initially placed into a 229-by-282-kilometre (142 mi × 175 mi) low Earth orbit,[1] before the upper stage fired to place "Venera 1" into a heliocentric orbit, directed towards Venus. The 11D33 engine was the world's first staged-combustion-cycle rocket engine, and also the first use of an ullage engine to allow a liquid-fuel rocket engine to start in space.
Three successful telemetry sessions were conducted, gathering solar-wind and cosmic-ray data near Earth, at the Earth's Magnetopause, and on February 19 at a distance of 1,900,000 km (1,200,000 mi). After discovering the solar wind with Luna 2, Venera 1 provided the first verification that this plasma was uniformly present in deep space. Seven days later, the next scheduled telemetry session failed to occur. On May 19, 1961, Venera 1 passed within 100,000 km (62,000 mi) of Venus. With the help of the British radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, some weak signals from Venera 1 may have been detected in June. Soviet engineers believed that Venera 1 failed due to the overheating of a solar-direction sensor.[5]
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Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets). |
