SPACE TRAVEL

AN EXPOSITION COMPILED BY:

ALIYU AMINA
NO 138,JSS 1B

JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL,

BWARI CENTRAL, BWARI FCT.

JUNE,2018.
SPACE TRAVEL
INTRODUCTION

Quest to use space travel to discover the nature of the universe beyond
Earth. Since ancient times, people have dreamed of leaving their home
planet and exploring other worlds. In the latter half of the 20th century, that
dream became reality. The space age began with the launch of the first
artificial satellites in 1957. A human first went into space in 1961. Since
then, astronauts and cosmonauts have ventured into space for ever greater
lengths of time, even living aboard orbiting space stations for more than a
year. Two dozen people have circled the Moon or walked on its surface. At
the same time, robotic explorers have journeyed where humans could not go,
visiting all of the solar system’s major planets. Unpiloted spacecraft have
also visited a host of minor bodies such as moons, comets, and asteroids.
These explorations have sparked the advance of new technologies, from
rockets to communications equipment to computers. Spacecraft studies have
yielded a bounty of scientific discoveries about the solar system, the Milky
Way Galaxy, and the universe. And they have given humanity a new
perspective on Earth and its neighbors in space.

An Astronaut
The first challenge of space exploration was developing rockets; powerful
enough and reliable enough to boost a satellite into orbit. These boosters
needed more than brute force, however; they also needed guidance systems
to steer them on the proper flight paths to reach their desired orbits. The next
challenge was building the satellites themselves. The satellites needed
electronic components that were lightweight, yet durable enough to
withstand the acceleration and vibration of launch. Creating these
components required the world’s aerospace engineering facilities to adopt
new standards of reliability in manufacturing and testing. On Earth,
engineers also had to build tracking stations to maintain radio
communications with these artificial “moons” as they circled the planet.

Rocket with booster.

Beginning in the early 1960s, humans launched probes to explore other

planets. The distances traveled by these robotic space travelers required
travel times measured in months or years. These spacecraft had to be
especially reliable to continue functioning for a decade or more. They also
had to withstand such hazards as the radiation belts surrounding Jupiter,
particles orbiting in the rings of Saturn, and greater extremes in temperature
than are faced by spacecraft in the vicinity of Earth. Despite their great
scientific returns, these missions often came with high price tags. Today the
world’s space agencies, such as the United States National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA),
strive to conduct robotic missions more cheaply and efficiently.
It was inevitable that humans would follow their unpiloted creations into
space. Piloted spaceflight introduced a whole new set of difficulties, many of
them concerned with keeping people alive in the hostile environment of
space. In addition to the vacuum of space, which requires any piloted
spacecraft to carry its own atmosphere, there are other deadly hazards: solar
and cosmic radiation, micrometeorites (small bits of rock and dust) that
might puncture a spacecraft hull or an astronaut’s pressure suit, and
extremes of temperature ranging from frigid darkness to broiling sunlight. It
was not enough simply to keep people alive in space—astronauts needed to
have a means of accomplishing useful work while they were there. It was
necessary to develop tools and techniques for space navigation, and for
conducting scientific observations and experiments. Astronauts would have
to be protected when they ventured outside the safety of their pressurized
spacecraft to work in the vacuum. Missions and hardware would have to be
carefully designed to help ensure the safety of space crews in any
foreseeable emergency, from liftoff to landing.

The challenges of conducting piloted spaceflights were great enough for

missions that orbited Earth. They became even more daunting for the Apollo
missions, which sent astronauts to the Moon. The achievement of sending
astronauts to the lunar surface and back represents a summit of human
spaceflight.

Space Shuttle

After the Apollo program, the emphasis in piloted missions shifted to long-
duration spaceflight, as pioneered aboard Soviet and U.S. space stations. The
development of reusable spacecraft became another goal, giving rise to the
U.S. space shuttle fleet. Today, efforts focus on keeping people healthy
during space missions lasting a year or more—the duration needed to reach
nearby planets—and in lowering the cost of sending satellites into orbit.
 Space Shuttle

HISTORY OF SPACE EXPLORATION

The desire to explore the heavens is probably as old as humankind, but in the
strictest sense, the history of space exploration begins very recently, with the
launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, which the Soviets sent into
orbit in 1957. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in
space just a few years later, in 1961. The decades from the 1950s to the
1990s were full of new “firsts,” new records, and advances in technology.

A. First Forays into Space

Although artificial satellites and piloted spacecraft are achievements of the

last half of the 20th century, the technology and principles of space travel
stretch back hundreds of years, to the invention of rockets in the 11th
century and the formulation of the laws of motion in the 17th century. The
power of rockets to lift objects into space is described by a law of motion
that was formulated by English scientist Sir Isaac Newton in the 1680s.
Newton’s third law of motion states that every action causes an equal and
opposite reaction. As predicted by Newton’s law, the rearward rush of gases
expelled by the rocket’s engine causes the rocket to be propelled forward. It
took nine centuries from the invention of rockets and almost three centuries
from the formulation of Newton’s third law for humans to send an object
into space. In space, the motions of satellites and interplanetary spacecraft
are described by the laws of motion formulated by German astronomer
Johannes Kepler, also in the 17th century. For example, one of Kepler’s laws
states that the closer a satellite is to Earth, the faster it orbits.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Russian teacher Konstantin Tsiolkovsky became known as a pioneer in
rocket and space research in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Tsiolkovsky was one of the first scientists to suggest using rockets for
spaceflight.

Robert Hutchings Goddard

Designer of the liquid-propellant rocket, Robert Goddard was an aerospace
pioneer, making one of the first serious proposals for flight to the moon.
Goddard received limited support for his research during his lifetime, but his
work was later recognized with awards and used extensively in the
development of missiles and spacecraft.

WORLD OF SCIENCE

The Moon Rocket Proposition

In 1919 American rocket engineer Robert H. Goddard produced a report

entitled “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes.” The report contained a
short discussion of the possibility of rockets traveling as far as the moon. As
a result, Goddard became an object of ridicule in the press, receiving
scathing treatments in newspapers such as the New York Times. In a 1921
rebuttal published in Scientific American, Goddard discussed his critics’
arguments, including the incorrect idea that rockets could not travel in the
vacuum of space because there would be nothing for them to “push” against.
The importance of Goddard’s research was not recognized in the United
States until after World War II (1939-1945).
In Russia, nearly a century later, a lone schoolteacher named Konstantin
Tsiolkovsky envisioned how to use rockets to voyage into space. In a series
of detailed treatises, including “The Exploration of Cosmic Space With
Reactive Devices” (1903), Tsiolkovsky explained how a multi-stage, liquid-
fuel rocket could propel humans to the Moon.

Early Artificial Satellites

Sputnik 1

The Russian Sputnik 1, launched on October 4, 1957, was the first artificial
satellite put into orbit around the earth. This historic launch kicked off an era
of intensive space programs by both the Soviet Union and the United States,
a surge of interest sometimes called the “space race.” In the next three
decades, hundreds of probes, satellites, and other missions would follow
Sputnik on the quest to explore both the wonders and the practical potential
of space.

Sputnik 1
News of the first Sputnik intensified efforts to launch a satellite in the United
States. The initial U.S. satellite launch attempt on December 6, 1957, failed
disastrously when the Vanguard launch rocket exploded moments after
liftoff. Success came on January 31, 1958, with the launch of the satellite
Explorer 1. Instruments aboard Explorer 1 made the first detection of the
Van Allen belts, which are bands of trapped radiation surrounding Earth.
This launch also represented a success for Wernher von Braun, who had
been brought to the United States with many of his engineers after World
War II. Von Braun’s team had created the Jupiter C (an upgraded version of
their Redstone missile), which launched Explorer 1.

The satellites that followed Sputnik and Explorer into Earth orbit provided
scientists and engineers with a variety of new knowledge. For example,
scientists who tracked radio signals from the U.S. satellite Vanguard 1,
launched in March 1958, determined that Earth is slightly flattened at the
poles. In August 1959 Explorer 6 sent back the first photo of Earth from
orbit. Even as these satellites revealed new details about our own planet,
efforts were underway to reach our nearest neighbor in space, the Moon.

Unpiloted Lunar Missions

Early in 1958 the United States and the USSR were both working hard to be
the first to send a satellite to the Moon. Initial attempts by both sides failed.
On October 11, 1958, the United States launched Pioneer 1 on a mission to
orbit the Moon. It did not reach a high enough speed to reach the Moon, but
reached a height above Earth of more than 110,000 km (more than 70,000
mi). In early December 1958 Pioneer 3 also failed to leave high Earth orbit.
It did, however, discover a second Van Allen belt of radiation surrounding
Earth.

On January 2, 1959, after two earlier failed missions, the USSR launched
Luna 1, which was intended to hit the Moon. Although it missed its target,
Luna 1 did become the first artificial object to escape Earth orbit. On
September 14, 1959, Luna 2 became the first artificial object to strike the
Moon, impacting east of the Mare Serentitatis (Sea of Serenity). In October
1959 Luna 3 flew around the Moon and radioed the first pictures of the far
side of the Moon, which is not visible from Earth.

In the United States, efforts to reach the Moon did not resume until 1962,
with a series of probes called Ranger. The early Rangers were designed to
eject an instrument capsule onto the Moon’s surface just before the main
spacecraft crashed into the Moon. These missions were plagued by
failures—only Ranger 4 struck the Moon, and the spacecraft had already
ceased functioning by that time. Rangers 6 through 9 were similar to the
early Rangers, but did not have instrument packages. They carried television
cameras designed to send back pictures of the Moon before the spacecraft
crashed. On July 31, 1964, Ranger 7 succeeded in sending back the first
high-resolution images of the Moon before crashing, as planned, into the
surface. Rangers 8 and 9 repeated the feat in 1965.

By then, the United States had embarked on the Apollo program to land
humans on the Moon. With an Apollo landing in mind, the next series of
U.S. lunar probes, named Surveyor, was designed to “soft-land” (that is,
land without crashing) on the lunar surface and send back pictures and other
data to aid Apollo planners. As it turned out, the Soviets made their own soft
landing first, with Luna 9, on February 3, 1966. Luna 9 radioed the first
pictures of a dusty moonscape from the lunar surface. Surveyor 1
successfully reached the surface on June 2, 1966. Six more Surveyor
missions followed; all but two were successful. The Surveyors sent back
thousands of pictures of the lunar surface. Two of the probes were equipped
with a mechanical claw, remotely operated from Earth, which enabled
scientists to investigate the consistency of the lunar soil.

At the same time, the United States launched the Lunar Orbiter probes,
which began circling the Moon to map its surface in unprecedented detail.
Lunar Orbiter 1 began taking pictures on August 18, 1966. Four more Lunar
Orbiters continued the mapping program, which gave scientists thousands of
high-resolution photographs covering nearly all of the Moon.
Beginning in 1968 the USSR sent a series of unpiloted Zond probes—
actually a lunar version of their piloted Soyuz spacecraft—around the Moon.
These flights, initially designed as preparation for planned piloted missions
that would orbit the Moon, returned high-quality photographs of the Moon
and Earth. Two of the Zonds carried biological payloads with turtles, plants,
and other living things.

Although both the United States and the USSR were achieving successes
with their unpiloted lunar missions, the Americans were pulling steadily
ahead in their piloted program. As their piloted lunar program began to lag,
the Soviets made plans for robotic landers that would gather a sample of
lunar soil and carry it to Earth. Although this did not occur in time to
upstage the Apollo landings as the Soviets had hoped, Luna 16 did carry out
a sample return in September 1970, returning to Earth with 100 g (4 oz) of
rock and soil from the Moon’s Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fertility). In
November 1970 Luna 17 landed with a remote-controlled rover called
Lunakhod 1. The first wheeled vehicle on the Moon, Lunakhod 1 traveled
10.5 km (6.4 mi) across the Sinus Iridium (Bay of Rainbows) during ten
months of operations, sending back pictures and other data. Only three more
lunar probes followed. Luna 20 returned samples in February 1972.
Lunakhod 2, carried aboard the Luna 21 lander, reached the Moon in
January 1973. Then, in August 1976 Luna 24 ended the first era of lunar
exploration.

Lunar lander
Exploration of the Moon resumed in February 1994 with the U.S. probe
called Clementine, which circled the Moon for three months. In addition to
surveying the Moon with high-resolution cameras, Clementine gathered the
first comprehensive data on lunar topography using a laser altimeter.
Clementine’s laser altimeter bounced laser beams off of the Moon’s surface,
measuring the time they took to come back to determine the height of
features on the Moon.

In January 1998 NASA’s Lunar Prospector probe began circling the Moon
in an orbit over the Moon’s north and south poles. Its sensors conducted a
survey of the Moon’s composition. In March 1998 the spacecraft found
tentative evidence of water in the form of ice mixed with lunar soil at the
Moon’s poles. Lunar Prospector also investigated the Moon’s gravitational
and magnetic fields. Controllers intentionally crashed the probe into the
Moon in July 1999, hoping to see signs of water in the plume of debris
raised by the impact. Measurements taken by instruments around Earth,
however, did not find evidence of water after the crash, nor did they rule out
the existence of water.

Scientific Satellites

Years before the launch of the first artificial satellites, scientists anticipated
the value of putting telescopes and other scientific instruments in orbit
around Earth. Orbiting satellites can view large areas of Earth or can provide
views of space unobstructed by Earth’s atmosphere.

1. Earth-Observing Satellites

One main advantage of putting scientific instruments into space is the ability
to look down at Earth. Viewing large areas of the planet allows
meteorologists, scientists who research Earth’s weather and climate, to study
large-scale weather patterns (see Meteorology). More detailed views aid
cartographers, or mapmakers, in mapping regions that would otherwise be
inaccessible to people. Researchers who study Earth’s land masses and
oceans also benefit from having an orbital vantage point.

Beginning in 1960 with the launch of U.S. Tiros I, weather satellites have
sent back television images of parts of the planet. The first satellite that
could observe most of Earth, NASA’s Earth Resources Technology Satellite
1 (ERTS 1, later renamed Landsat 1), was launched in 1972. Landsat 1 had a
polar orbit, circling Earth by passing over the north and south poles. Because
the planet rotated beneath Landsat’s orbit, the satellite could view almost
any location on Earth once every 18 hours. Landsat 1 was equipped with
cameras that recorded images not just of visible light but of other
wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. These cameras provided a
wealth of useful data. For example, images made in infrared light let
researchers discriminate between healthy crops and diseased ones. Six
additional Landsats were launched between 1975 and 1999.

The success of the Landsat satellites encouraged other nations to place

Earth-monitoring satellites in orbit. France launched a series of satellites
called SPOT beginning in 1986, and Japan launched the MOS-IA (Marine
Observation System) in 1987. The Indian Remote Sensing satellite, IRS-IA,
began operating in 1988. An international team of scientists and engineers
launched the Terra satellite in December 1999. The satellite carries five
instruments for observing Earth and monitoring the health of the planet.
NASA, a member organization of the team, released the first images taken
by the satellite in April 2000.
 2. Astronomical Satellites

Astronomical objects such as stars emit radiation, or radiating energy, in the

form of visible light and many other types of electromagnetic radiation.
Different wavelengths of radiation provide astronomers with different kinds
of information about the universe. Infrared radiation, with longer
wavelengths than visible light, can reveal the presence of interstellar dust
clouds or other objects that are not hot enough to emit visible light. X rays, a
high-energy form of radiation with shorter wavelengths than visible light,
can indicate extremely high temperatures caused by violent collisions or
other events. Earth orbit, above the atmosphere, has proved to be an
excellent vantage point for astronomers. This is because Earth’s atmosphere
absorbs high-energy radiation, such as ultraviolet rays, X rays, and gamma
rays. While such absorption shields the surface of Earth and allows life to
exist on the planet, it also hides many celestial objects from ground-based
telescopes. In the early 1960s, rockets equipped with scientific instruments
(called sounding rockets) provided brief observations of space beyond our
atmosphere, but orbiting satellites have offered far more extensive coverage.

Britain launched the first astronomical satellite, Ariel 1, in 1962 to study

cosmic rays and ultraviolet and X-ray radiation from the Sun. In 1968
NASA launched the first Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO 1,
equipped with an ultraviolet telescope. Uhuru, a U.S. satellite designed for
X-ray observations, was launched in 1970. Copernicus, officially designated
OAO 3, was launched in 1972 to detect cosmic X-ray and ultraviolet
radiation. In 1978 NASA’s Einstein Observatory, officially designated High-
Energy Astrophysical Observatory 2 (HEAO 2), reached orbit, becoming the
first X-ray telescope that could provide images comparable in detail to those
provided by visible-light telescopes. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite
(IRAS), launched in 1983, was a cooperative effort by the United States, The
Netherlands, and Britain. IRAS provided the first map of the universe in
infrared wavelengths and was one of the most successful astronomical
satellites. The Cosmic Ray Background Explorer (COBE) was launched in
1989 by NASA and discovered further evidence for the big bang, the
theoretical explosion at the beginning of the universe.
The Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in orbit from the U.S. space
shuttle in 1990, equipped with a 100-in (250-cm) telescope and a variety of
high-resolution sensors produced by the United States and European
countries. Flaws in Hubble’s mirror were corrected by shuttle astronauts in
1993, enabling Hubble to provide astronomers with spectacularly detailed
images of the heavens. NASA launched the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in
1999. Chandra is named after American astrophysicist Subrahmanyan
Chandrasekhar and has eight times the resolution of any previous X-ray
telescope. The Spitzer Space Telescope was put in orbit in 2003 to study
infrared radiation from objects in space, including forming stars and
galaxies.

3. Other Satellites

In addition to observing Earth and the heavens from space, satellites have
had a variety of other uses. A satellite called Corona was the first U.S. spy
satellite effort. The program began in 1958. The first Corona satellite
reached orbit in 1960 and provided photographs of Soviet missile bases. In
the decades that followed, spy satellites, such as the U.S. Keyhole series,
became more sophisticated. Details of these systems remain classified, but it
is has been reported that they have attained enough resolution to detect an
object the size of a car license plate from an altitude of 160 km (100 mi) or
more.

Other U.S. military satellites have included the Defense Support Program
(DSP) for the detection of ballistic missile launches and nuclear weapons
tests. The Defense Meteorological Support Program (DMSP) satellites have
provided weather data. And the Defense Satellite Communications System
(DSCS) has provided secure transmission of voice and data. White Cloud is
the name of a U.S. Navy surveillance satellite designed to intercept enemy
communications.

Satellites are becoming increasingly valuable for navigation. The Global

Positioning System (GPS) was originally developed for military use. A
constellation of GPS satellites, called Navstar, has been launched since
1978; each Navstar satellite orbits Earth every 12 hours and continuously
emits navigation signals. Anyone can use GPS signals to calculate their
precise location, altitude, and velocity, as well as the current time. The GPS
signals are remarkably accurate: Time can be figured to within a millionth of
a second, velocity within a fraction of a kilometer per hour, and location to
within a few meters. In addition to military uses, handheld GPS receivers
can be used by hikers, campers, and explorers to locate their positions. GPS
receivers are included in many cellular radio telephones, commonly known
as cell phones, for possible emergency assistance. Private passenger
automobiles often come equipped with a GPS system for navigation.

Planetary Studies

Important Space Probes

Even as the United States and the USSR raced to explore the Moon, both
countries were also readying missions to travel farther afield. Earth’s closest
neighbors, Venus and Mars, became the first planets to be visited by
spacecraft in the mid-1960s. By the close of the 20th century, spacecraft had
visited every planet in the solar system, except for the outermost planet—
tiny, frigid Pluto (now classified as a dwarf planet). In January 2006,
however, NASA launched the New Horizons spacecraft from Cape
Canaveral, Florida, on a nine-year-long journey to Pluto and then beyond.
The earliest the spacecraft was expected to fly by Pluto was 2015. Its
mission was to then continue on to explore the outer Kuiper Belt.

1. Mercury

The first spacecraft to visit the solar system’s innermost planet, Mercury,
was the U.S. probe Mariner 10. The probe flew past Mercury on March 29,
1974, and sent back close-up pictures of a heavily cratered world resembling
Earth’s Moon. Mariner 10’s flyby also helped scientists refine measurements
of the planet’s size and density. It revealed that Mercury has a weak
magnetic field but lacks an atmosphere. After the first flyby, Mariner 10’s
orbit brought it past Mercury for two more encounters, in September 1974
and March 1975, which added to the craft’s harvest of data. In its three
flybys, Mariner 10 photographed 57 percent of the planet’s surface. In 2004
NASA launched the MESSENGER spacecraft. MESSENGER flew by
Mercury in 2008, with another flyby scheduled in 2009 before it goes into
orbit around Mercury in 2011.

2. Venus
The U.S. Mariner 2 probe became the first successful interplanetary
spacecraft when it flew past Venus on December 14, 1962. Mariner 2 carried
no cameras, but it did send back valuable data regarding conditions beneath
Venus’s thick, cloudy atmosphere. From measurements by Mariner 2’s
sensors, scientists estimated the surface temperature to be 400°C (800°F—
hot enough to melt lead), dispelling any notions that Venus might be very
similar to Earth.

In 1973 NASA launched Mariner 10 toward a double encounter with Venus

and Mercury. As it flew past Venus on February 5, 1974, Mariner 10’s
cameras took the first close-up images of Venus’s clouds, including views in
ultraviolet light that recorded distinct patterns in the circulation of Venus’s
atmosphere.

The USSR explored Venus with their Venera series of probes. Venera 7
made the first successful planetary landing on December 15, 1970, and
radioed 23 minutes of data from the Venusian surface, indicating a
temperature of nearly 480°C (900°F) and an atmospheric pressure 90 times
that on Earth. More Venera successes followed, and on October 22, 1975,
Venera 9 landed and sent back black and white images of a rock-strewn
plain—the first pictures of a planetary surface beyond Earth. Venera 10 sent
back its own surface pictures three days later.

Beginning in 1978, a series of spacecraft examined Venus from orbit around

the planet. These probes were equipped with radar that pierced the dense,
cloudy atmosphere that hides Venus’s surface, giving scientists a
comprehensive, detailed look at the terrain beneath. The first of this series,
the U.S. Pioneer Venus Orbiter, arrived in December 1978 and operated for
almost 14 years. The spacecraft’s radar data were compiled into images that
showed 93 percent of the planet’s large-scale topographic features.

The Soviet Venera 15 and 16 orbiters reached Venus in October 1983, each
equipped with radar systems that produced high-resolution images. In eight
months of mapping operations, two spacecraft mapped much of Venus’s
northern hemisphere, sending back images of mountains, plains, craters, and
what appeared to be volcanoes.

After being released from the space shuttle Atlantis, NASA’s radar-equipped
Magellan orbiter traveled through space and reached Venus in August 1990.
During the next four years Magellan mapped Venus at very high resolution,
providing detailed images of volcanoes and lava flows, craters, fractures,
mountains, and other features. Magellan showed scientists that the surface of
Venus is extremely well preserved and relatively young. It also revealed a
history of planetwide volcanic activity that may be continuing today. The
Venus Express spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in
2005 began studying the planet’s thick atmosphere from orbit in 2006.

3. Mars

On July 14, 1965, the U.S. Mariner 4 flew past Mars and took pictures of a
small portion of its surface, giving scientists their first close-up look at the
red planet. To the disappointment of some who expected a more Earthlike
world, Mariner’s pictures showed cratered terrain resembling the Moon’s
surface. In August 1969 Mariner 6 and 7 sent back more detailed views of
craters and the planet’s icy polar caps. On the whole, these pictures seemed
to confirm the impression of a moonlike Mars.

NASA’s Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars in November 1971,

providing scientists with the first close-up views of the entire planet.
Mariner 9’s pictures revealed giant volcanoes up to five times as high as
Mount Everest, a system of canyons that would stretch the length of the
continental United States, and—most intriguing of all—winding channels
that resemble dry river valleys of Earth. Scientists realized that Mars’s
evolution had been more complex and fascinating than they had suspected
and that the planet was moonlike in some ways, but surprisingly Earthlike in
others.

The USSR’s Mars probes were stymied by technical malfunctions. In

November 1971 the Mars 2 spacecraft went into orbit around the planet and
released a landing capsule that crashed without returning any data. Mars 2
became the first artificial object to reach the Martian surface. In December
1971 a lander released by the Mars 3 orbiter reached the surface
successfully. However, it sent back only 20 seconds of video signals that
included no data. In 1973 two more landing missions also failed. In 1988 the
USSR made two unsuccessful attempts to explore the Martian moon Phobos.
Contact with the spacecraft Phobos 1 was lost due to an error by mission
controllers when the spacecraft was on its way to Mars.