Mars is on the border of the so-called "zone of life" - climatic conditions on the planet is much tighter earth, but still acceptable for organic life forms. In summer on the equator in the afternoon the temperature reaches + 20 C, long winter it can drop below minus 140 C is twice colder most fierce winter in Antarctica.

Mars in 9 times lighter than the Earth. The atmosphere of the red planet is 95% carbon dioxide, and its density corresponds to the earth's atmosphere at a height of 40 km - walk without a suit will end for a man instant death.

On the surface of the red planet is the highest volcano in the Solar system* - height Martian Olympus 27 kilometers, diameter 600 km of Slopes of a long extinct volcano framed by steep seven-kilometer chasms should be spectacular scenery! A mountain so high that at the top of the atmospheric conditions correspond to the open cosmos.

The longest and deepest canyon in the Solar system is on Mars. Valley of the Mariner extends along the equator at 4500 km and its depth is 11 kilometers...

As you may have guessed, Mars is full of attractions and mysterious places. Mars has long attracted the attention of the earth researchers are close to our planet with its own atmosphere and all the signs of favorable conditions for the emergence of extraterrestrial life. Real sensation produced the opening of "channels" on the surface of Mars - then even the most stubborn skeptics believed in the existence of Martian civilization.

Many years passed and the Martian canals" turned out to be an optical illusion. Sensitive spectrograph found the absence in the Martian atmosphere of oxygen and water vapor are the key elements for life (at least in its our earthly understanding), melted the last hope for the detection of brothers in mind. But still the dream of a distant wonderful world where maybe someday will blossom Apple orchards...

Exactly 50 years ago, on 1 November 1962, Mankind has made a step towards your dream: the Soviet spacecraft was first placed on the trajectory of a flight to the red planet. The automatic interplanetary station "Mars-1" was to deliver to the purpose of the half-ton scientific instruments and equipment. Soviet scientists had planned a truly daring expedition: the device had to check the possibility of deep space communication, to conduct a study of the properties of the interplanetary environment, to collect data about the cosmic radiation and threads micrometeorites, to photograph the Mars up close, to study the magnetic field and characteristics of the atmosphere of the red planet, and, to the extent possible, try to answer the question: "is There life on Mars?".

LV "Molniya" has successfully put the station into orbit, joined the upper stage " and "Mars-1" started his long 7-month journey to the red planet.
Interplanetary probe flies silently in the icy emptiness, only occasionally "morochas" from side to side. Most of the time its solar panel battery is aimed strictly at the Sun, but at some point, light sensors peer into the velvety blackness of space, trying to see the twinkle of a star Canopus it to this point tied orientation of the probe. Having received the necessary data, on-Board computer calculates new position of the station in space antenna turned toward the Earth. It's time to transmit telemetry. During the flight "Mars-1" held a 61 radio communications session, during which conveyed to Earth valuable information about the magnetic fields of the Earth and interplanetary medium, about the properties of the solar wind - a stream of charged particles from the Sun and meteor streams.

But not fated to come true dreams scientists at a distance of 106 million kilometers from Earth accident happened bottles orientation system. Together with compressed nitrogen, "Mars-1" has lost the possibility of orientation in space. In vain the probe was called to the aid of their creators - the signals from the probe could not be heard on the Earth.
on June 19, 1963, according to the ballistic analysis, the Soviet interplanetary station was in the vicinity of Mars, becoming the first man-made object, visited the Red planet.

Why in space battleships

The sixties of the twentieth century became the time of a true triumph of the Soviet space: the first man in space, the first multi-spacecraft, the first step in the space on the outside of the ship in the suit, the first maneuvering in orbit, the first picture of the back side of the moon, the Soviet stations on the surface of Venus and Mars... the USSR annually were launched into orbit 100 spacecraft - in our time, as many do not run all countries of the world combined.

Expedition to the distant planets has required the development of ground infrastructure, first of all, the systems of deep space communication. You wanted to hear a faint "squeak" interplanetary probe through hundreds of millions of miles of space, through the noise and magnetic storms, through the solar wind and signals to terrestrial radio stations. 100 million miles ... how to present such an incredible distance? The car constantly speeding down the highway at a speed of 100 km/h will need 114 years to overcome this distance!

A difficult task demanded extraordinary solutions. As a result, in the environs of the city there are three strange object - antenna HELL-1000 system, deep space communication "Pluton". There are three of them - two foster and one transmission. Each antenna HELL-1000 is a block of eight parabolic dishes with a diameter of 16 meters installed on the rotary platform. The total mass of the design - 1500 tons!
At any time on demand of the operator, the antenna unit should direct their "look" at the right point of the sky. But how to achieve perfect precision-guided - up to 1 minute of arc, if the moving parts weigh more than a thousand tons.

Here to the aid of radio astronomy group came shipbuilders. 8 antennas-"plates" is fixed on the huge span of the railway bridge, and the whole system is mounted on a support-rotating device of the tower of the main battery from the unfinished battleship "Stalingrad". Know ours!

Mars is waiting for new heroes

For the previous 20 years, Russia has sent to Mars only two scientific expeditions: the failed Mars-96 and the infamous Phobos-grunt. Despite of cheerful statements of representatives of Roscosmos: "all are well! Right now, fix that and it will work", - even ordinary people became clear that the Russian space program is in deep mess. Technologies for space exploration great heritage of the USSR, Russia as the old grandfather's suitcase with instruments and pull hard, and throw a pity. How to fix the situation? Base on the moon here is unlikely to help, it may be better pay all attention to the quality of the training space launches.

There are some positive moments in this story? Of course! Despite the lack of own launches, Russian specialists regularly participate in NASA programs. For example, a joint Russian-American expedition Mars Polar Lander. Unfortunately, the mission was a failure - the machine crashed while landing. Should not be so deafening whistle and shaking his head over the last 15 years, Americans themselves killed three Martian expedition. However there is a nuance: in addition to the three failures were 8 successful missions.

Yes, space exploration is not easy walk, but I believe that there are no limits to the human thirst for knowledge. Must be repeated expedition "Phobos-Soil" - next time the device is successfully delivers the soil of the Martian satellite to Earth. But you need to hurry - the calculations show that the Phobos too low orbit, within a few million it will be burned up in the Martian atmosphere.

*Martian volcano, Olympus is the highest among all known peaks on planets and satellites of the Solar system. The highest volcano on Earth is almost three times below the Martian giant - the height of Mauna Kea only 10 kilometers. No, the author has not lost his mind and knows that the greatest top of the world is mount Everest (8848 m). The trick is that the volcano Mauna Kea is not on land, and at the bottom of the Pacific ocean - over the water rises only the tip height 4205 meters. But in fact, the high - it is an underwater volcano.