Red Soviet Union

Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The great war in the Mediterranean did not affect this place, and the entire Soviet Union is still very peaceful. Even now, they don't even need to be afraid of nuclear deterrence.

As the largest space center in the Soviet Union, it is very busy here.

In particular, in the final assembly workshop of the rocket, the Energy rocket is being assembled rapidly.

This year is a heavy year for the Soviet aerospace industry. Within this year, the Soviet Union will launch eleven Energia rockets, complete the construction of the Mir orbital space station, and complete the assembly of the space laser cannon in space. net, to complete the complete occupation of space.

Earth's outer space belongs to the Soviets!

At the same time, another project is also proceeding intensely and orderly.

Baikonur is the largest space center in the Soviet Union. In addition to launching missions, it also performs more measurement and control tasks. There are five measurement and control stations, large and small, which are connected with other measurement and control stations around the world. Formed a huge measurement and control network.

And now, in a measurement and control center, some experts are looking at the complex data on the computer screen and analyzing the flight characteristics of the spacecraft from it. Is it normal?

A tall, thin man with a serious expression stood aside. At this moment, he was quite nervous.

Chelomyen, a Soviet aerospace expert, for him, landing on Mars is the goal he has tirelessly pursued with the rest of his body, and now, it is his first attempt!

The distance between Mars, which is far away from the earth, and the earth is not definite, and the orbits of both sides are elliptical.

The Mars probe from the earth can not be launched at any time, but only once every 2 years and 2 months. Such a launch opportunity is called the launch window. At this time, the sun, the earth, and Mars will line up in a straight line, which is called the Mars opposition. This is a good opportunity to launch a Mars probe.

Because, at this time, the distance between Mars and the Earth is the shortest. Of course, this shortest distance also changes. It is generally believed that the shortest distance is about 55 million kilometers, and the longest distance is more than 400 million kilometers.

If this launch is successful, then wait a few more years, and the next time, that is, in 1988, the distance between Mars and Earth will be the closest again, about 58.8 million kilometers.

The speed of radio waves is 300,000 kilometers per second, so even if it is a radio that has reached the speed of light, it will take 3 minutes!

The signal received now came three minutes ago from the distant Mars!

This experiment is very important! Now, our side is still receiving the landing signal. In fact, the Mars probe has already landed on Mars, or it has crashed!

Mars Rover!

When the nuclear power engine is used and can be accelerated all the time, the time required for Mars exploration has been greatly shortened, and it is possible to visit Mars within one and a half months to two months.

And the current Mars rover is the first attempt. After being sent into space by the Proton rocket from Baikonur, it left the earth. This Mars rover, relying on the nuclear-powered rocket engine at the tail, continues to speed up , it took forty-one days, and finally came to Mars!

After being captured by the gravity of Mars, the most important step, but also the most dangerous step, is to land on Mars!

Even on the earth, the return of the spacecraft is quite dangerous. In later generations, the Columbia had an accident during the return voyage!

On Mars, which is far away from the earth, it is impossible for Soviet aerospace experts to remotely control the probe. Everything is flying according to the programmed settings.

Like the earth, Mars has an atmosphere. The probe enters the Martian atmosphere at an altitude of 131 kilometers, and the speed is as high as 6 kilometers per second. In just seven minutes, the speed of the probe must be reduced to zero, so as to achieve a safe landing .

This is also the critical moment with the most technical difficulty and the highest probability of failure among all Mars exploration missions. It is a veritable black seven minutes.

In the initial stage, the parachute must be used for the initial deceleration. The main step is the final deceleration plan when contacting the Martian ground.

Even on the earth, this is the most difficult. For example, Gagarin, the first person to go to the sky, although he came down from the sky, did not stay in the spaceship in the final stage. Gagarin was ejected by the ejection seat at a height of several hundred meters above the ground after the spacecraft had opened the parachute. He took his own parachute and finally landed.

Internationally, there are three main options for the landing of the Mars rover, one is airbag cushioning. Before the lander lands on the surface of Mars, the airbag that wraps the lander is inflated and deployed. This kind of lander, like a bouncing ball, keeps bouncing on Mars, gradually lowering its height, and achieving a successful landing.

However, this scheme is only suitable for the landing of light-weight landers.

The other is the cushioning of the landing bracket, which uses the reverse thrust rocket to achieve power deceleration. At the same time, the probe extends more than four outriggers, and there are buffer devices on the outriggers. The landing is the same as the Apollo moon landing spacecraft. This method It is suitable for the landing of heavier landers, and can accurately select the landing point at the same time.

The other is the aerial crane landing.

In later generations, the United States launched the 3.6-ton Curiosity rover to Mars, because it was too heavy and had to be used in a special way. When the Curiosity rover entered the Martian atmosphere at a speed of 20,000 kilometers per hour, it was loaded in a shield-shaped heat shield.

When the probe is 11 kilometers above the surface of Mars, it first opens the huge parachute to reduce the flight speed, and after 24 seconds, the heat protection cover is detached. When the probe descended to a height of 1.4 kilometers, the back shell was separated, and the eight brake rockets on the probe were ignited, and the descent speed was decelerated from 80 meters per second to 0.75 meters per second through rocket reverse thrust.

The speed is already very low. When the probe is 20 meters above the surface of Mars, the lander is almost in a hover state in the air. The aerial crane releases the nylon rope to lift the Curiosity rover from the lander to Mars. surface, to achieve landing.

Curiosity ended up unscathed and carried out experiments on Mars.

But now, for the Mars probe launched by the Soviet Union, the second solution is adopted, because the nuclear-powered rocket engine will provide sufficient recoil!

No camera will capture its descent. The nuclear-powered rocket ignites for two seconds, adjusts its orbit, and following an arc, the Mars rover enters the Martian atmosphere.

In the red Martian atmosphere, the Mars probe, with more brilliant colors, fell down. Its surface, rubbing against the fire atmosphere, became dark. At an altitude of 11 kilometers from the surface of Mars, a huge parachute opened. The speed of the Mars rover has been further reduced!

After flying wobbly for tens of seconds, the parachute at the top was cut off, and the nuclear power engine at the tail burst into a fiery flame, and liquid hydrogen was heated in the reactor and spewed out.

Keep slowing down!

Around, the four outriggers stretched out, and the probe continued to approach and approach the surface of Mars under further deceleration.

Finally, the outrigger touched the ground, the hydraulic cylinder was squeezed, and the balance was restored again.

The engine has been shut down, and the probe has successfully landed!

On the side of the detector, a camera slowly protruded. It looked at the world curiously. It was desolate, and there were some yellowish red everywhere. The sun in the sky was just a bright spot that looked white.

When this image was sent back to the earth, everyone in the measurement and control center couldn't help applauding in an instant!

Chelomian was even more excited, it was a success!

This success has verified the huge advantages of nuclear-powered rockets in exploring Mars! Time can be significantly reduced! Then, next, we need to steadily advance the plan of manned landing on Mars!

Use the Energia rocket to send the manned Mars probe into orbit, and in orbit, receive another rocket or the propellant injection from the Mir space station. In this way, a behemoth with a total mass of more than 200 tons can be Fly to Mars!

At the same time, another similar spacecraft is needed to fly to Mars together. This spacecraft is mainly used for returning!

The whole plan will cost a lot! Fortunately, Marshal Andrei fully supports it!