Flight over Korolev Crater on Mars
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Korolev Crater is named after Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (1907-1966), the 'Chief Designer' and father of Russian space technology. He developed the first Russian intercontinental ballistic missile, the R7, which is the predecessor of the modern Soyuz launch vehicles still in use today. With his designs for rockets and spacecraft, Korolev launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, in 1957 and enabled Yuri Gagarin's flight to space, the first crewed spaceflight, in 1961. The launchers with which Soviet research missions to the Moon, Venus and Mars were carried into space were also based on Korolev's designs.
Until his death on 14 January 1966, Korolev and his engineers worked on an even more powerful launch vehicle that would have enabled Russian cosmonauts to journey to the Moon. Like the plans for the first expeditions into space, these activities were subject to the greatest secrecy in the Soviet Union. The national population and the rest of the world were not aware of the identity of person behind the title of 'Chief Designer' and the great successes of the USSR in the early years of space travel.
Until the success of the first Moon landing by Apollo 11 and its crew of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, there was uncertainty in the USA as to whether the Soviet Union had been able to maintain its initial lead in the space race and if it might soon be able to fly cosmonauts to the Moon. This is evident in numerous documents subsequently made available by NASA. At the time, the USA had only scarce espionage information. Korolev's opposite number at NASA, Wernher von Braun, formerly a leading engineer during the German development of military rockets – who moved to the USA with numerous other engineers at the end of the war – urged rapid development of the US Saturn V launcher.
It was only after the death of Korolev that von Braun learned the identity of his brilliant opponent. The Soviet administration initially struggled with disagreements and competing interests over the choice of Korolev’s successor and the course of future development for a Moon rocket that had never ended up exhibiting capabilities for crewed flight. Historians therefore regard Korolev's death as a decisive milestone in the race to the Moon between the two world powers of the USSR and USA, in which NASA eventually took the lead.
The impact crater Korolev is situated in the northern lowlands of Mars, south of the large Olympia Undae dune field that partly surrounds the north polar cap. Korolev’s crater floor lies two kilometers below its rim, and is covered whole year round with a large central mound of water ice. This 1.8-kilometer-thick domed deposit represents a large reservoir of non-polar ice on Mars.
Water ice is permanently stable within Korolev crater because the deepest part of this depression acts as a natural cold trap. The air above the ice cools and is thus heavier compared to the surrounding air. Since air is a poor conductor of heat, the ice is shielded from the surrounding. Only minor warm-up due to heat transfer occurrs, and the cold air shields the water ice mound effectively from heating and sublimation.
Copyrights
Animation: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Music: Björn Schreiner
Soundtrack Logo: Alicia Neesemann
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The High Resolution Stereo Camera was developed at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and built in collaboration with partners in industry (EADS Astrium, Lewicki Microelectronic GmbH and Jena-Optronik GmbH). The science team, which is headed by Principal Investigator (PI) Ralf Jaumann, consists of 52 co-investigators from 34 institutions and 11 countries. The camera is operated by the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof.