February 1988

From The Space Library

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Current revision

Aviation Week Space Technology reported that the Soviet Union was assessing a major expansion of its untended Mars balloon/rover mission planned for 1994. Soviet officials were evaluating the possibility of significantly increasing the payload capability of its dual Mars orbiter/lander spacecraft by using aerobraking instead of rocket propulsion to enter Martian orbit. Aerobraking would enable the Soviets to dispense with rockets needed to decelerate the spacecraft sufficiently to enter Martian orbit, thereby making available an additional 3,300 pounds of payload capacity.

An approved aerobraking maneuver would give the Soviets several new features to the balloon/rover mission, including; a 110-pound subsatellite that would be released into Martian orbit to provide Mars gravity data; 10 "meteorbeacons" dropped on the surface that would return data on temperature, pressure, and wind velocity; two penetrators that would dive as deep as 16 feet into Mars' surface to return data on chemical composition, soil temperature, and water vapor content; a high resolution orbiter imaging system; and two Earth-return vehicles, which would serve as test vehicles for a future automated soil sample return mission. (Av Wk, Feb 29/88)

Using NASA's new supercomputer at the Numerical Aerodynamics Simulation Facility, Dr. Kozo Fujii, a research fellow at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, developed a computer model that simulates the air-flow field physics associated with vortex breakdown and provides new insights into its causes. Vortex breakdown is a complex phenomenon that can cause loss of lift and control for high-performance aircraft.

Understanding and eventually controlling vortex breakdown would improve maneuverability and safety for high-performance aircraft. {NASA Release 88-13)

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