Venera 15
| Mission type | Venus orbiter |
|---|---|
| Operator | Soviet Academy of Sciences |
| COSPAR ID | 1983-053A |
| SATCAT № | 14104 |
| Mission duration |
Overall: 1 year, 1 month, 7 days At Venus: 9 months |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | 4V-2 No. 860 |
| Manufacturer | NPO Lavochkin |
| Launch mass | 5,250 kg (11,570 lb) |
| Dry mass | 4,000 kg (8,800 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | June 2, 1983, 02:38:39 UTC |
| Rocket | Proton-K/D-1 |
| Launch site | Baikonur 200/39 |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | 10 July 1984 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Cytherocentric |
| Semi-major axis | 38,848 kilometres (24,139 mi) |
| Eccentricity | 0.8211 |
| Pericytherion | 7,081 kilometres (4,400 mi) |
| Apocytherion | 72,078 kilometres (44,787 mi) |
| Inclination | 92.5 degrees |
| Period | 24 hours |
| Epoch | 10 October 1983 |
| Venus orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | October 10, 1983 |
| Orbits | 260 |
Venera 15 (Russian: Венера-15 meaning Venus 15) was a spacecraft sent to Venus by the Soviet Union. This unmanned orbiter was to map the surface of Venus using high resolution imaging systems. The spacecraft was identical to Venera 16 and based on modifications to the earlier Venera space probes.
Venera 15 was launched on June 2, 1983 at 02:38:39 UTC and reached Venus' orbit on October 10, 1983.
The spacecraft was inserted into Venus orbit a day apart from Venera 16, with its orbital plane shifted by an angle of approximately 4° relative to one another probe. This made it possible to reimage an area if necessary. The spacecraft was in a nearly polar orbit with a periapsis ~1000 km, at 62°N latitude, and apoapsis ~65000 km, with an inclination ~90°, the orbital period being ~24 hours.
Together with Venera 16, the spacecraft imaged the area from the north pole down to about 30°N latitude (i.e. approx. 25% of Venus surface) over the 8 months of mapping operations.
The Venera 15 and 16 spacecraft were identical and were based on modifications to the orbiter portions of the Venera 9 and Venera 14 probes. Each spacecraft consisted of a 5 m long cylinder with a 0.6 m diameter, 1.4 m tall parabolic dish antenna for the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) at one end. A 1-meter diameter parabolic dish antenna for the radio altimeter was also located at this end. The electrical axis of the radio altimeter antenna was lined up with the axis of the cylinder. The electrical axis of the SAR deviated from the spacecraft axis by 10 degrees. During imaging, the radio altimeter would be lined up with the center of the planet (local vertical) and the SAR would be looking off to the side at 10 degrees. A bulge at the opposite end of the cylinder held fuel tanks and propulsion units. Two square solar arrays extended like wings from the sides of the cylinder. A 2.6 m radio dish antenna for communications was also attached to the side of the cylinder. The spacecraft each massed 4000 kg.
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