MARS-96 . ROBOTIC SPACECRAFT MISSION TO MARS. ... Scientific goals . ... Orbiter . ... the experiments . ... SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE ORBITER EXPERIMENTS . The experiments on board the orbiter should study the atmosphere and surface of Mars with remote sensing methods. ... Measurements of the elemental composition with a gamma-spectrometer (PHOTON experiment) and of the mineralogical composition with IR-spectrometers (OMEGA and PFS) make it possible to get data about the nature of rocks. ...
Courtesy of NASA's National Space Science Data Center . ... 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, 1975. ... 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. The landing was about 2,200 kilometers from Venera 9. ...