Exploring the Red Planet
Base de Datos
The Soviet Mars 2MV-4 No. 1 probe (Sputnik 22) failed on October 24, 1962, when its Blok L upper stage exploded in LEO due to a seized staged-combustion turbopump. Its debris triggered a false ICBM attack alarm in Alaska, averted via vector tracking during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Soviet probe Korabl 5 (1M No. 2) was destroyed on October 14, 1960, during its launch to Mars after a catastrophic third-stage (Block I) failure at T+290 seconds. A liquid oxygen leak froze the kerosene in the turbopump, preventing ignition and forcing a suborbital re-entry over Siberia.
The Korabl 4 (1M No. 1) mission represented humanity's first attempt at an interplanetary flyby toward Mars in 1960. A mechanical failure caused by hydraulic cavitation in the Molniya rocket's third-stage turbopumps broke the horizon gyroscope, resulting in a suborbital ballistic reentry over Siberia.
The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission represents the forefront of robotic astrobiology. Through a two-meter drilling system, an analytical laboratory (MOMA/RLS), and the innovative use of Americium-241, the mission seeks biomarkers in the Oxia Planum subsurface, ensuring high scientific fidelity.