Vega 2
Vega 2 — Vega 1's twin. Its lander touched down in Aphrodite Terra on 15 June 1985 and identified its rock as an anorthosite-troctolite; its balloon drifted 11,100 km through the clouds in two days. It passed 8,030 km from Halley's nucleus on 9 March 1986. Last contact was on 24 March 1987.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- Lavochkin / IKI (USSR)
- Launched
- December 21, 1984
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.726 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 0.357 AU
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.154 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Vega 2 was Vega 1's twin, launched on 21 December 1984. Its descent sphere reached Venus on 15 June 1985. The lander touched down in eastern Aphrodite Terra at 03:00 UT, and this time the soil analysis worked: it identified the rock as an anorthosite-troctolite. It measured 91 atmospheres and 736 K (463 °C). Its balloon, 3.4 metres across, settled about 53.6 km up in the most active layer of the clouds and drifted west with the wind at about 66 m/s. Radio telescopes on Earth tracked it as it crossed from night into day, and its last signal came on 17 June, 11,100 km from where it had started. Together the two balloons found winds of up to 240 km/h and vertical gusts. Three days after Vega 1, on 9 March 1986, Vega 2 passed 8,030 km from Halley's nucleus. The two Vegas showed it to be dark and about 14 km long. Last contact was on 24 March 1987.
- 1984Vega 2 launches toward Venus on a Proton rocketLaunch
Vega 1's twin sets out six days behind it.
The lander analyses its rock; the balloon drifts 11,100 km through the clouds.
Three days after Vega 1.
- 1987Last contactMission end
The last contact with the Vega missions.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image