Venera 10

Venera 10 (Russian: Венера-10) was a USSR unmanned space mission to Venus. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. It launched on June 14, 1975 03:00:31 UTC.

Orbiter

The orbiter entered Venus orbit on October 23, 1975. Its mission was to serve as a communications relay for the lander and to explore cloud layers and atmospheric parameters with several instruments and experiments:

• 1.6-2.8 μm IR Spectrometer
• 8-28 μm IR Radiometer
• 352 nm UV Photometer
• 2 Photopolarimeters (335-800 nm)
• 300-800 nm Spectrometer
• . Lyman-α H/D Spectrometer
• Bistatic Radar Mapping
• CM, DM Radio Occultations
• Triaxial Magnetometer
• 345-380 nm UV Camera
• 355-445 nm Camera
• 6 Electrostatic Analyzers
• 2 Modulation Ion Traps
• Low-Energy Proton / Alpha detector
• Low-Energy Electron detector
• 3 Semiconductor Counters
• 2 Gas-Discharge Counters
• Cherenkov Detector

The orbiter consisted of a cylinder with two solar panel wings and a high gain parabolic antenna attached to the curved surface. A bell-shaped unit holding propulsion systems was attached to the bottom of the cylinder, and mounted on top was a 2.4 meter sphere which held the landers.

Lander

File:Venera 9 lander.jpg

Venera 10 lander

On October 23, 1975, this spacecraft was separated from the Orbiter, and landing was made with the sun near zenith, at 0517 UT, on October 25.

A system of circulating fluid was used to distribute the heat load. This system, plus precooling prior to entry, permitted operation of the spacecraft for 65 min after landing. During descent, heat dissipation and deceleration were accomplished sequentially by protective hemispheric shells, three parachutes, a disk-shaped drag brake, and a compressible, metal, doughnut-shaped, landing cushion.

Landing area of Venera 10 as mapped by the Magellan orbiter

It landed 2200 km from Venera 9 (within a 150 km radius of 15.42°N 291.51°E / 15.42; 291.51), three days after its touchdown. Venera 10 measured a surface windspeed of 3.5 m/s. Other measurements included atmospheric pressure at various heights, and temperature, and surface light levels. Venera 10 was the second probe to send back black and white television pictures from the Venusian surface (after Venera 9). Venera 10 photographs showed lava rocks of pancake shape with lava or other weathered rocks in between. Planned 360 degree panoramic pictures could not be taken because, as with Venera 9, one of two camera lens covers failed to come off, limiting pictures to 180 degrees.

Image processing

Researcher Don P. Mitchell recently rediscovered the original Venera imaging data. Using modern software he has been able to reproduce images with far greater clarity than the versions previously available.