NASA's missed opportunity - Pioneer E to Venus, Venus Orbiter, Pioneer, Mission Proposal |
NASA's missed opportunity - Pioneer E to Venus, Venus Orbiter, Pioneer, Mission Proposal |
Mar 5 2011, 03:32 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 212 Joined: 19-July 05 Member No.: 442 |
While testing out the updated version of the NTRS I found another missed opportunity for NASA (See also: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...=4472&st=0)
TRW in 1968 proposed that Pioneer E be modified so that it could be launched and become the first ever spacecraft to orbit Venus (On or about the 16th of December 1970, with the orbital mission running to at least May of 1971). While the instrumentation would have been unchanged, battery power would have been increased, the attitude system modified to allow mid-course corrections and most importantly a solid rocket would have allowed the spacecraft to enter Venusian orbit. While not equipped to take photographs or directly study the planet itself, it would have allowed the long term study of the Venusian near space environment to begin much earlier than it did. See http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1974075014.pdf For the 11mb Volume 1 Technical report (The remaining volumes do not seem to be available online) |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 22nd September 2024 - 12:39 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |