The 4MV planetary probe (short for 4th-generation Mars-Venus probe) is a designation for a common design used for Soviet unmanned probes to Mars and Venus.
It was an incremental improvement of earlier 3MV probes and was used for Mars missions 2 to 7 and Venera missions 9 to 16. Different versions of the bus exist, for example 4V-1, 4V-M and 4V-2. The same base design was also used for earth-orbiting space observatories.
Design The spacecraft bus has a height of and a solar panel span of . The central section of the bus has a diameter of about and contained propellant. The main engine (KTDU-425) is encircled by a conical instrument compartment with the diameter of at the base. While Mars 2,3 and Kosmos 419 used the KTDU-425, 4MV buses after 1971 used the KTDU-425A).
Variants Mars M-71|3MS: Kosmos 419 (M-71|3MS No.170), Mars 2 (M-71 No.171), Mars 3 (M-71 No.172) Mars M-73|3MS|3MP: Mars 4 (M-73|3MS No.52S), Mars 5 (M-73|3MS No.53S), Mars 6 (M-73|3MP No.50P), Mars 7 (M-73|3MP No.51P) Venera 4V-1: Venera 9 (4V-1 No.660), Venera 10 (4V-1 No.661), Venera 11 (4V-1 No.360), Venera 12 (4V-1 No.361), Venera 13 (4V-1M No.760), Venera 14 (4V-1M No.761) Astron: Astron Venera 4V-2: Venera 15 (4V-2 No.860), Venera 16 (4V-2 No.861) Granat: Granat
See also Soviet space program M-69 Venera 3MV
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