Zond 3
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| Organization: | Soviet Union |
| Major contractors: | OKB-1 |
| Mission type: | Planetary Science |
| Launch: | July 18, 1965 at 14:38:00 UTC |
| Launch vehicle: | SS-6/R-7 (8K72) |
| Mission highlight: | Fly-by of Moon on July 20, 1965 at distance of 9,200 km |
| Mission duration: | ? |
| Mass: | 960 kg |
| NSSDC ID: | 1965-056A |
| Webpage: | NASA NSSDC Master Catalog |
| Orbital elements | |
|---|---|
| Satellite of: | Sun |
| Semimajor axis: | 1 AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0.2683 |
| Inclination: | 0.5° |
| Orbital period: | 500 d |
| Apoastron: | 1.56 AU |
| Periastron: | 0.9 AU |
| Orbits: | |
| Lunar Landing: | n/a |
| Landing coordinates: |
n/a |
| Lunar liftoff: | n/a |
| Instruments | |
| f/106 mm Camera and TV system with automatic inflight film processing Magnetometer Ultraviolet (0.25–0.35 µm and 0.19–0.27 µm) spectrograph Infrared (3–4 µm) spectrograph Radiation sensors (gas-discharge and scintillation counters) Radiotelescope Micrometeoroid instrument Experimental ion engine |
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Zond 3, a member of the Soviet Zond program, was the first Zond spacecraft to successfully complete its mission (a Lunar flyby) and took a number of amazing photographs for its time. 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 trajectory, although Mars was no longer attainable, as a spacecraft test.
[edit] Spacecraft design
The spacecraft design was similar to Zond 2, in addition to the imaging equipment it carried a magnetometer, ultraviolet (0.25 to 0.35 micrometre and 0.19 to 0.27 micrometre) and infrared (3 to 4 micrometre) spectrographs, radiation sensors (gas-discharge and scintillation counters), a radiotelescope and a micrometeoroid instrument. It also had an experimental ion engine.
[edit] Mission
The spacecraft, a Mars 3MV-4A, was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (65-056B) earth orbiting platform towards the Moon and interplanetary space. The spacecraft was equipped with an f/106 mm camera and TV system that provided automatic inflight film processing. On July 20 lunar flyby occurred approximately 33 hours after launch at a closest approach of 9200 km. 25 pictures of very good quality were taken of the lunar farside from distances of 11,570 to 9960 km over a period of 68 minutes. The photos covered 19,000,000 km² of the lunar surface. Photo transmissions by facsimile were returned to Earth from a distance of 2,200,000 km and were retransmitted from a distance of 31,500,000 km (some signals still being transmitted from the distance of the orbit of Mars), thus proving the ability of the communications system. After the lunar flyby, Zond 3 continued space exploration in a heliocentric orbit.
This article was originally based on material from NASA (NSSDC) information on Zond 3
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Zond 2 |
Zond program | Succeeded by Zond 1967A |
| Zond program |  |
|---|---|
| Zond Probes: Zond 1 | Zond 1964A | Zond 2 | Zond 3 | Zond1967A | Zond 1967B | Zond 4 | Zond 1968A | |
| Lunar "Soyuz": Zond 5 | Zond 6 | Zond 1969A | Zond L1S-1 | Zond L1S-2 | Zond 7 | Zond 8 |
