Zond 1
Zond 1 — a Soviet Venus probe that fell silent on the way (launched 2 April 1964). A leak let the air out of its main compartment and damaged its radio, so controllers talked to it through its lander. Contact was lost in late May, and on 19 July 1964 it passed Venus silently, about 100,000–110,000 km away. Had it worked, it would probably have been named Venera 2.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- OKB-1 (USSR)
- Launched
- April 2, 1964
- Status
- Lost
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.726 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 0.322 AU
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 11,260,443 km
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Zond 1 was a Venus probe in all but name. Launched on 2 April 1964, it carried a pressurised descent module of about 290 kg built to enter the atmosphere of Venus. Its name — "Zond" means "probe" — belonged to a series of engineering test craft, and giving it to a failed Venus mission hid the failure: had it worked, it would probably have been called Venera 2. Within days a crack, probably in a sensor's glass cover or a welded seam, let the air out of the main compartment, and the radio transmitters short-circuited. Controllers found a way to talk to the craft through the lander's own transmitter, and made two course corrections — the first by a Soviet interplanetary spacecraft — but the second fell short, and it would miss Venus. Contact was lost in late May: NSSDCA gives 24 May, NASA's history Beyond Earth 25 May. On 19 July 1964 the silent craft passed Venus — about 100,000 km away by NSSDCA's figure, 110,000 km by Beyond Earth's — and went into orbit around the Sun. The Soviet Union later published some of its cosmic-ray data.
- 1964Launch toward VenusLaunch
A Venus probe with a lander, sent from a heavy satellite in Earth orbit.
- 1964Contact lostMission end
After a leak crippled its radio; NASA's history Beyond Earth gives 25 May.
It goes on into orbit around the Sun.
Images
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