Venera 1

Mockup of the Venera 1 spacecraft

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| 12 February 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)

Venera

<- Tyazhely Sputnik

Venera 2MV-1 No.1 ->

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 was intended as an impactor, but 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.

## Contents

* 1 Spacecraft
* 2 Launch
* 3 Failure
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Spacecraft

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. 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.

## Launch

Route of Venera 1 on a Soviet stamp

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 due to the failure of a power transformer. The transformer was wrapped in foil and painted black and white for thermal reasons.[3][4] 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. Vehicle L1-6V steered downrange into a clear blue winter sky and orbit was successfully achieved.[5]

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.

## Failure

During the first telemetry session, it was found that Venera 1 failed to enter the constant solar orientation mode, which led to a shortage of electrical power on board. While unfortunate, this was expected and in such a case the station had to conduct a rough orientation to the Sun and turn off non-vital systems. However, the radio transmitters had not been adequately designed and communication was shortly lost. The signal was regained on 17 February but it was still unable to lock onto the Sun properly and again went into protective mode and turned off the transmitter. Three successful telemetry sessions were conducted, gathering solar-wind and cosmic-ray data near Earth, at the Earth's magnetopause, and on 19 February 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 19 May 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.[6]

## See also

* List of missions to Venus
* Mariner 2
* Timeline of planetary exploration

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Venera 1". https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1961-003A.
2. ↑ NSSDC Chronology of Venus Exploration (NASA Goddard Space Center), accessed 9 August 2010
3. ↑ https://habr.com/ru/articles/555132/
4. ↑ NSSDC Tentatively Identified (Soviet) Missions and Launch Failures (NASA Goddard Space Center), accessed 9 August 2010
5. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. http://planet4589.org/space/log/launchlog.txt.
6. ↑ "Venera 1 launches toward Venus, February 12, 1961". https://www.edn.com/venera-1-launches-toward-venus-february-12-1961/.

## External links

* The Soviet Exploration of Venus
* NSSDC Master Catalog – Venera 1

* v
* t
* e

Venera programme

Flybys|

* Venera 1
* Venera 2

Orbiters|

* Venera 15
* Venera 16

Descent probes|

* Venera 3
* Venera 4
* Venera 5
* Venera 6
* Venera 7

Landers|

* Venera 8
* Venera 9
* Venera 10
* Venera 11
* Venera 12
* Venera 13
* Venera 14

Failed launches|

* Tyazhely Sputnik
* Venera 2MV-1 No.1
* Venera 2MV-1 No.2
* Venera 2MV-2 No.1
* Kosmos 21
* Venera 3MV-1 No.2
* Kosmos 27
* Kosmos 96
* Kosmos 167
* Kosmos 359
* Kosmos 482
* Venera 1964A

Future missions|

* Venera-D

* v
* t
* e

Spacecraft missions to Venus

Active missions|

| Orbiters|

* Akatsuki

|

Flybys|

* Parker Solar Probe (en route)
* BepiColombo (en route)

Past missions|

| Orbiters|

* Magellan
* Pioneer Venus Orbiter
* Venera 9
* 10
* 15
* 16
* Venus Express

|

Flybys|

* Venera 1†
* Mariner 2
* Zond 1†
* Venera 2†
* Mariner 5
* 10
* Venera 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* Vega 1
* 2
* Galileo
* Cassini–Huygens
* MESSENGER
* IKAROS
* Shin-en†

Descent probes|

* Venera 3†
* 4
* 5
* 6
* Pioneer Venus Multiprobe

Landers|

* Venera 7
* 8
* 9
* 10
* 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* Vega 1
* 2
* Pioneer Venus Small Probes

Balloon probes|

* Vega 1
* 2

Failed launches|

* Tyazhely Sputnik
* Mariner 1
* 2MV-1 No.1
* 2MV-1 No.2
* 2MV-2 No.1
* Kosmos 21
* 3MV-1 No.2
* Kosmos 27
* 96
* 167
* 482

Planned missions|

| Flybys|

* Solar Orbiter (2020)
* Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (2022)
* Dragonfly (2026)

|

Proposed missions|

| Venus missions|

* CUVE
* DAVINCI
* EnVision
* HAVOC
* HOVER
* Shukrayaan-1
* VAMP
* Venera-D
* VERITAS
* VICI
* VISAGE
* VISE
* VOX
* Zephyr

|

Flybys|

* Europa Clipper
* Hayabusa2
* Mercury-P
* Laplace-P
* NASA Uranus orbiter and probe

Cancelled / concepts|

* European Venus Explorer
* Inspiration Mars
* TMK-Mavr
* Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar
* Vesta

Program overviews|

* Venera
* 3MV
* Mariner
* Pioneer Venus
* Vega

Related|

* Colonization
* Observations and explorations
* List of artificial objects on Venus
* List of missions
* Manned Venus flyby
* Terraforming
* VeSpR

* Missions are ordered by launch date. † indicates failure en route or before any data returned.

* v
* t
* e

Orbital launches in 1961

Samos 2 | Tyazhely Sputnik | Venera 1 | Explorer 9 | Discoverer 20 | Discoverer 21 | Transit 3B * LOFTI-1 | S-45 | Korabl-Sputnik 4 | Korabl-Sputnik 5 | Explorer 10 | Discoverer 22 | Discoverer 23 | Vostok 1 | Mercury-Atlas 3 | Explorer 11 | S-45A | Discoverer 24 | Discoverer 25 | Transit 4A * SOLRAD 3 * Injun 1 | S-55 | Discoverer 26 | TIROS-3 | Midas 3 | Discoverer 27 | Discoverer 28 | Vostok 2 | Explorer 12 | Ranger 1 | Explorer 13 | Discoverer 29 | Samos 3 | Discoverer 30 | Mercury-Atlas 4 | Discoverer 31 | Discoverer 32 | Midas 4 * Westford 1 | Discoverer 33 | DS-1 No.1 | Mercury-Scout 1 | Discoverer 34 | Discoverer 35 | Transit 4B * TRAAC | Ranger 2 | Samos 4 | Mercury-Atlas 5 | Zenit-2 No.1 | Discoverer 36 * OSCAR 1 | DS-1 No.2 | FTV-2203

Payloads are separated by bullets ( * ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in brackets.

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