Mars 3 (Various Topics Merged) Options

[tedstryk]

On my website sometime back, I added a page on the image fragment sent back by the Mars-3 Lander. I released serveral versions, including the best quality processing using othodox techniques I would use on other images plus colorization here:
http://pages.preferred.com/%7Etedstryk/fragmentc.jpg
However, I released another image, which I called a "What if" image. This image can be seen here http://pages.preferred.com/%7Etedstryk/m3s5b.jpg It was produced via extreme processing of the original data to make a Mars-like scene, but I made it clear on my website it was only a speculative image. I strongly doubt if the raw data even shows Mars at all - it could be all noise. But since this mode of processing looked strangely Viking-like, I figured I would put it on the web. I was warned by several, who said that while fun, some kooks might take it seriously. My response was that I really don't care what kooks think. Then I noticed this web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_2
They used the overprocessed image. I feel like it is being presented as a true photograph. This is of concern.

[yurdel]

please visit http://mars3.gornai.ru - my attempt of animation Mars-3 mission(in russian)

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[Geert]

please visit http://mars3.oktemlyceum.ru - my attempt of animation Mars-3 mission(in russian)

Very good and as far as I can judge technically correct animation!

You quite often see the mistake that the solid fuel engine on the lander was used for a braking manouevre, which is incorrect, it fired perpendicular to the flight path and thus only decreased the passing distance (from 1500 km to almost zero), you show it correctly in your animation.

Only remark is that you show the parachute separating on firing of the soft landing engines, the way I read the booklet of Perminov ('The difficult road to Mars') and especially the drawing on page 47 it seems to me like the parachute remained attached to the softlandingrocket and the instrument shell (similar to what was done with Pathfinder and MER), after the lander is released the softlandingrocket is shown more or less shooting into the parachute and taking the whole thing away from the lander.

I have been searching through the HiRISE images a lot in the vague hope of finding any sign of Mars 3 or Mars 6 but it's seeking for a needle in a haystack, there are lots of 'suspicious stones' but nothing which really shows hopeful. It's such a big, big, area, I'm afraid we will have to wait until somebody accidentally stumbles over the thing in a hundred years or more, and hopefully you're animation is then still around to show them what they've found!

[yurdel]

Very good and as far as I can judge technically correct animation!
...
Only remark is that you show the parachute separating on firing of the soft landing engines, the way I read the booklet of Perminov ('The difficult road to Mars') and especially the drawing on page 47 it seems to me like the parachute remained attached to the softlandingrocket and the instrument shell (similar to what was done with Pathfinder and MER), after the lander is released the softlandingrocket is shown more or less shooting into the parachute and taking the whole thing away from the lander.
...

Thanks!

I'm animate this picture -

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[Geert]

I'm animate this picture -

The booklet of Perminov you can download here

The drawing you animate is on page 50 of the pdf, the picture I am referring to is on page 51. There is indeed a difference in how the parachute is released. On page 49 of the book the description is:

Depending on the descent velocity, in an altitude range of 16 to 30 meters, the high-altitude radar-altimeter issues a command; the onboard radio system is disconnected, the engine that controls the soft landing is started, and a second PVM program is initiated. When the landers vertical speed of descent drops to 6.5 meters per second, the low-altitude radar-altimeter issues a command to break the metallic ribbons that attach the parachute-instrument module to the automatic Martian station. Simultaneously, the engine that controls the maneuvering of the parachute container is started.

This seems to indicate the parachute remained attached to the parachute container while the soft landing engine was firing (as shown in page 51 drawing), but I agree that the 2 drawings differ in this, I'm afraid only way to make sure is find one of the original technicians and ask...

I'm also interested in what was the color of the parachute, some of the artwork seems to suggest it was red-white which is a pity given the red colored landscape on Mars, they should make parachutes for Mars landers bright green or something...

[tedstryk]

Amazing work!