Vega 1
Vega 1 — an international Soviet mission to Venus and Halley's Comet. In June 1985 it dropped a lander and the first balloon to float in another planet's atmosphere, then used Venus's gravity to reach Halley, passing 8,889 km from the nucleus on 6 March 1986 and photographing it. Last contact was on 30 January 1987.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- Lavochkin / IKI (USSR)
- Launched
- December 15, 1984
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.726 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 0.358 AU
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.152 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Vega 1 did two things no spacecraft had combined before: it delivered a lander and a balloon to Venus, then flew on to Halley's Comet. The Vega missions — the name joins Venera and Gallei, Russian for Halley — were built with scientists from several countries, including France, whose instruments rode on the landers. Launched on 15 December 1984, Vega 1 released its descent sphere two days before reaching Venus. On 11 June 1985 the sphere entered the atmosphere and split: the balloon was released high up and floated in the clouds for about two days, the first balloon to fly in another planet's atmosphere, while the lander descended. A jolt 18 km up set off its soil drill too early, ruining the surface analysis, but it landed just north of Aphrodite Terra and sent data for 56 minutes, at 95 atmospheres and 740 K (467 °C). Venus's gravity then bent Vega 1's path toward Halley. On 6 March 1986 it passed 8,889 km from the nucleus at 77.7 km/s, taking more than 500 pictures of it. Its measurements of where the nucleus lay helped ESA steer Giotto much closer eight days later. Last contact was on 30 January 1987.
- 1984Vega 1 launches toward Venus on a Proton rocketLaunch
An international mission to Venus and Halley's Comet.
The lander works for 56 minutes; the first balloon to fly in another planet's atmosphere floats for about two days.
It photographs the nucleus at 77.7 km/s.
- 1987Last contactMission end
Contact ends almost a year after the comet.
Images
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