Exactly half a century ago, on November 27, 1971, a man-made object reached the surface of the fourth planet from the Sun. It was the Soviet Mars-2 spacecraft. On board was the first & nbsp; rover Mars ProP-M to the world, whose name means “ passability assessment device '' & ndash; March. & # 39; & # 39; It was supposed to measure the density of the soil, and the lander was supposed to transmit images of the surface of a distant planet to Earth. & Nbsp;
& # 39; Book & # 39; on skates
The history of astronautics shows that it is easier to fly to Mars than to land there: the atmosphere of this planet is very rarefied, to leave the planet. orbit at the required speed and carefully land the device & ndash; extremely difficult task. The very first mission to the Red Planet was further complicated by the fact that by the time of its arrival, a stronger dust storm had erupted on Mars, which lasted for five months.
The Soviet Union in May & nbsp; 1971 & nbsp; launched two stations at once. & Nbsp; on May 19 from Baikonur launched & nbsp; rocket “ Proton-K '' with the automatic interplanetary station 'Mars-2', after 9 days AMS 'Mars-3' & # 39; chased her. Each one carried on board a small & nbsp; mobile device, similar to & nbsp; a box on runners & ndash; the first rovers in PrOP-M history.
These & nbsp; devices have been designed and manufactured for five years by a team of specialists from Leningrad & nbsp; VNIITransMash & nbsp; led by the design engineer Alexander Kemurdzhian. Before that, they worked on the first lunar rover. But the rovers differed from him fundamentally, namely, the travel system. Scientists did not know for sure what the surface of the Red Planet was, and therefore it was proposed to equip the vehicles with skates located on the sides and slightly lifting their bodies. After all, if the ground is loose, it's best to get around it on 'skis'.
The rover itself was about the size of a thick book (25 x 22 x 4 centimeters) and weighed 4.5 kilograms. The runners were supposed to 'walk' and move the car at low speed – 1 meter per hour, and if it hits an obstacle, it will stop and wait for a command from Earth, which could take up to 20 minutes. However, & nbsp; stops and therefore had to happen every & nbsp; 1.5 meters – for & nbsp; confirmation or correction of course.
The rover was fitted with two thin rods at the front, which acted as obstacle detection sensors. With their help, the device was able to determine which side the obstacle was on to back up or attempt to bypass it. Of course, there were also scientific instruments on it. The dynamic penetrometer and gamma ray densimeter were intended to measure the density and structure of Martian soil. This was the main task of the Soviet rover.
The reception and transmission of the signal from Earth went through the lander. It was connected to the rover by a 15-meter cable, like an umbilical cord, providing it with energy and controlling its movement.
In search of a landing site
As already mentioned, in 1971 & nbsp; & nbsp; the strongest dust storm erupted on Mars. It was impossible to predict, and, alas, it was she who led to the collapse of the mission.
On November 27, Mars-2 crashed while landing. He became the first & nbsp; artificial object to reach the surface of this planet. December 2 station “ Mars-3 & # 39; & # 39; was able to sit down harmlessly, and that was already an achievement: the first successful soft landing on the surface of Mars in history has taken place. & nbsp; Soon it went into working order and & nbsp; with the help of a special manipulator launched the Mars ProP-M rover. The station began to transmit a panorama of the surrounding landscape to Earth. Unfortunately, the picture is blurry & ndash; it was a gray background with no discernible detail. And after 14.5 seconds the signal completely stopped. More from 'March-3 & # 39; & # 39; & nbsp; did not make contact.
As experts later suggested, corona discharge could occur in the transmitter antennas & nbsp; or the battery failed due to a dust storm. And the Martian wind speed at that time was so high (over 140 meters per second) that it's surprising how the lander was able to survive and go into operation.
At the same time, the orbital station remained in orbit near Mars. She had her own research program, which she continued to conduct for 8 months. Having turned into an artificial satellite of the Red Planet, this device transmitted infrared radiometry, photometry, data on the composition of the atmosphere, magnetic field and plasma to Soviet scientists. & Nbsp;
It is noteworthy that the exact landing site of Mars 3 for a long time was not known. If & nbsp; the location of all successfully spent vehicles is strictly fixed, so no one has shown interest in the failed missions. & Nbsp; In 2012, this question was asked by a famous blogger and popularizer of cosmonautics & nbsp; Vitaly Egorov . He began to study (and then brought in other enthusiasts to do so) high-resolution images of the proposed landing zone of the Soviet station. They were carried out in 2007 by an American satellite operating in orbit near Mars. After analyzing several hundred photographs of the surface of the planet, Egorov discovered this place – it is located at the bottom of the Martian crater Ptolemy. The blogger managed to recognize not only the lander, but also the parachute, soft landing motor and aero brake screen.
Somewhere there, covered in Martian dust, lies the first rover in history, the ProP -M rover. He may have touched the ground of an inhospitable planet, but he couldn't walk an inch there. Specifically, go skiing.
