Vega program

Vega 1 and Vega 2 were uncrewed spacecraft launched in a cooperative effort among the Soviet Union (who also provided the spacecraft and launch vehicle) and Austria,[1] Bulgaria, France, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Federal Republic of Germany in December 1984.

Because of this, the craft was designated VeGa, a contraction of Venera and Gallei (Венера and Галлей respectively, the Russian words for "Venus" and "Halley").

The craft were powered by twin large solar panels and instruments included an antenna dish, cameras, spectrometer, infrared sounder, magnetometers (MISCHA), and plasma probes.

The 4,920 kg (10,850 lb) craft were launched by a Proton 8K82K rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR (current Kazakhstan).

[citation needed] The two balloon aerobots were designed to float at 54 km (34 mi) from the surface, in the most active layer of the Venusian cloud system.

The instrument pack had enough battery power for 60 hours of operation and measured temperature, pressure, wind speed, and aerosol density.

[3] At this altitude, pressure and temperature conditions of Venus are similar to those of Earth at 18,000 feet MSL (5,5 km),[3] though the planet's winds move at hurricane velocity, and the carbon dioxide atmosphere is laced with sulphuric acid, along with smaller concentrations of hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid.

After their encounters, the Vega motherships were redirected to intercept Comet Halley, utilizing the gravity of Venus to alter their trajectory.

The on-board TV system was created in international cooperation of the scientific and industrial facilities from the USSR, Hungary, France, and Czechoslovakia.

The TV data was processed by an international team, including scientists from the Soviet Union, Hungary, France, East Germany, and the United States.

The basic steps of data acquisition and preprocessing were performed in IKI using an image processing computer system based on a PDP-11/40 compatible host.