Zond 3

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox spaceflight Zond 3 was a 1965 space probe which performed a flyby of the MoonTemplate:'s far side,<ref name="Harvey2007">Template:Cite book</ref> taking 28 quality photographs. It was a member of the Soviet Zond program while also being part of the Mars 3MV project. It was unrelated to Zond spacecraft designed for crewed circumlunar missions (Soyuz 7K-L1). It is believed that Zond 3 was initially designed as a companion spacecraft to Zond 2 to be launched to Mars during the 1964 launch window. The opportunity to launch was missed, and the spacecraft was launched on a Mars-crossing trajectory as a spacecraft test, even though Mars was no longer attainable.

Spacecraft design

The spacecraft was of the 3MV-4 type, similar to Zond 2.<ref name="thespacereview.com">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition to a 106.4 mm focal length Template:F/ imaging system for visible light photography and ultraviolet spectrometry at 285-355 μm, it carried ultraviolet (190-275 μm) and infrared (3-4 μm) spectrophotometers, radiation sensors (gas-discharge and scintillation counters), charged particle detector, magnetometer, and micrometeoroid detector.<ref name="thespacereview.com" /><ref name="Huntress2011">Template:Cite book</ref> It also had an experimental ion engine.

Operational history

Zond 3 was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 18, 1965, at 14:38 UTC, and was deployed from a Tyazhely Sputnik (65-056B) Earth-orbiting platform towards the Moon and interplanetary space. This was a repeat of a mission that failed in late 1963 intended to test communication at distances equivalent to the distances experienced by Mars and Earth.<ref name="discovery1">Template:Cite news</ref>

Zond 3's lunar flyby occurred on July 20 with a closest approach of Template:Convert,<ref name="thespacereview.com"/> approximately Template:Time interval after launch. 25 visible light photographs and 3 ultraviolet spectra of very good quality were taken of the lunar surface, beginning at 01:24 UTC and Template:Convert prior to closest approach and ending at 02:32 UTC and Template:Convert past closest approach, covering a period of 68 minutes.<ref name="thespacereview.com"/><ref name="Siddiqi2002">Template:Cite book</ref> The photos covered Template:Convert of the lunar surface.<ref name="nssdc-details">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Zond 3 proceeded on a trajectory across Mars' orbit, but not at a time when planetary encounter would occur. These images were transmitted by radio frequency on July 29 at a distance of Template:Convert. To test telemetry, the camera film was rewound and retransmitted in mid-August, mid-September, and finally on October 23 at a distance of Template:Convert, thus proving the ability of the communications system.<ref name="thespacereview.com"/> The subsequent transmissions were also at progressively slower data rates but higher quality.<ref name="discovery1" /> The mission was ended after radio contact ceased on March 3, 1966, when it was at a distance of Template:Convert.<ref name="thespacereview.com"/><ref name="Huntress2011" /> It operated for 228 days, roughly equivalent to the time needed to survive a journey to Mars and exceeding that needed for Venus.<ref name="thespacereview.com"/>

Legacy

In 1967, the second part of the Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon was published in Moscow,<ref>Atlas Obratnoy Storony Luny, p.2, Moscow: Nauka, 1967</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> based on data from Zond 3, with the catalog now including 4,000 newly discovered features of the lunar far side landscape. <ref name="GSE">Луна (спутник Земли), Great Soviet Encyclopedia</ref> In the same year, the first Complete Map of the Moon (1:Template:Val scale<ref name="SAI" />) and updated complete globe (1:Template:Val scale), featuring 95 percent of the lunar surface,<ref name="SAI">Template:In lang Moon maps and globes, created with the participation of Lunar and Planetary Research Department of SAI. SAI</ref> were released in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:In lang Moon Maps. MSU</ref>

References

• This article was originally based on material from NASA (NSSDC) information on Zond 3

External links

• Zond 3 at Zarya.info
• Soviet Moon Images at Mentallandscape.com

Preceded by {{#if:Zond 2|Zond 2|—}}

Zond program{{#if:| {{{curr}}}}}

Succeeded by {{#if:None|None|—}}