Venera 9

Description

This spacecraft entered Venus orbit and was separated from the lander on October 20, 1975, after about 4.5 months of flight. The orbiter mission was to act as a communications relay for the lander and to explore cloud layers and atmospheric parameters with instruments including a French 3500 angstrom UV photometer, a 4000-7000 angstrom photo-polarimeter, a 1.5 to 3 micron infrared spectrometer, and a 8 - 30 micron infrared radiometer. The orbiter also carried a magnetometer and charged particle traps. Some reports indicated a camera system was also aboard. The orbiter consisted of a cylinder with two solar panel wings and a high gain parabolic antenna attached to the curved surface. A bell-shaped unit holding propulsion systems was attached to the bottom of the cylinder, and mounted on top was a 2.4 meter sphere which held the landers. At launch the Venera 9 spacecraft, including the lander, had a mass of 4936 kg.