Nozomi in perspective, Revisiting the causes of failure Options

[pandaneko]

http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/uchuu/...ts/04061101.pdf

Above pdf file will be translated for aspiring students in aeronautics, control engineering etc. so that in future lay people like me will be able to enjoy planetary scenes and events without worrying about failures.

The overall title is "Looking into the causes of failure and trying to find the right measures to take for the future with respect to the 18th scientific satellite (PLANET-B ) not inserted into Mars orbit as planned" and it is dated 21 May 2004.

This file is very much detailed at 1.1 megabytes and the number of pages is about 40, I think. In addition, I will be translating 3 more files after this particular file. They will be;

1. ISAS file with views and comments on the failure
2. Another ISAS file, a newsletter written out in a series of 4 individual letters.
3. JAXA file, which is a press release and it is a very concise document with just sufficient details.

Re concise link making I tried a few times, but I simply failed and all the links will be fully pasted out as required.

Pandaneko

[pandaneko]

http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/uchuu/...ts/04061101.pdf

above for ease of reference

Page 3 (I believe)

(1) History of Nozomi development

It was decided in 1991 that we will start developping, with interplanetary missions in mind, the M-BV series of solid fuel rocktes. This marked a contrast with the earlier M-3S2 series of solid fuel rockets in that the launch capacity will increase from approx. 770kg to approx. 1800kg (ability for insertion into the lower earth orbit) and meant that planetary missions were suddenly within the grasp of scientists. Nozomi was thus conceived.

Since interplanetary missions require a large amount of launch energy it was decided to make use of planatery swing by method with the Nozomi mission. For your information the table I-2-1 shows the range of mission targets which became possible as the result of M-V rockets.

(2) Science targets of Nozomi

Nozomi's main aim was to look into the direct interaction between the solar wind and the upper atmosphere of a planet. About whether its target is to be Venus or Mars the then Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS) made an extensive investigation taking into the account the voices of scientific communities interested in planetary science.

Based on this it was finally decided that Nozomi's science target was to be Mars taking into the account the following points.



① There was very little observational result at that time.

② Earlier Viking lander (note 1) showed that Martian atmosphere extended to such a height that could not be fully explained by the pressure balancing of the atmosphere and the solar wind.



③ Earlier Phobos 2 probe's (note 2) observation suggested that an extremely large amount of oxygen ions flew into the interplanatary space which cannot be ignored in our reasoning of the evolution of Mars. For your information the table I-2-2 shows the status of missions to Mars by other contries at the time of Nozomi's planning.



(Note 1) : Viking Lander

This is a NASA Mars lander. Two of them landed on Mars in 19XX (I am afraid I do not have a year designation conversion table for this period ready for translation, P) and offered direct data on Martian atmosphere and ionosphere.

(Note 2) : Phobos 2

Former Soviet Union's Mars observer and stayed in orbit for 2 months from January 19XX (ditto, P) and discovered an extremely large amount of oxygen ions escaping Mars.

end of page 3

(in the earlier page I made a mistake, extensible should have been extendable, i.e., telescopic)

P