[FPSPACE] TV from Sputnik-2, again

[Sven Grahn]

Dear Friends,

In early January I was contacted by an art student who asked the straight question. Was there a TV system on Sputnik-2 and where can we find the pictures? I went back to what I have written myself about this and other sources. I found myself throroughly confused, and in the absence of an operational FPSPACE, I contacted Igor Lissov. I reproduce our exchange below. Perhaps members of FPSPACE want to comment? I know we have had this subject up for discussion before, but maybe new information is now available?

This is what I wrote to Igor:

"... In many sources, even Asif's big volume, you find the information that Sputnik-2 had av 200-line TV-system. However, in scientific papers (like: Malashenkov,Dimitri C,  "Some Unknown Pages of the Living Organism's First Orbital Flight", Paper IAC-02-IAA.2.2.05, 53rd International Astronautical Concress, 10-19 October 2002,  Houston, Texas. ) this information is missing. Frankly, I think many mix up Sputnik-2 with Korabl-Sputnik-2 where there was a TV-system that sent pictures of Strelka and Belka ..."

To which Igor replied:

"... It's an interesting question indeed. There are Russian sources that claim a low-res 100 or 200-line 10 sec-1 TV system built by OKB MEI (Moscow) in cooperation with VNII televideniya (Leningrad) was indeed put onboard PS-2. Some call it Seliger -- Tral-T
(e.g. http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/240/38.shtml ).

Authors associated with VNII televideniya insist that they started development of Enisey and Seliger onboard TV systems only in 1958 for Luna probes and Vostok spaceship respectively. You may see, as examples, the two 1996 articles by V.Efimov

( http://www.telesputnik.ru/archive/5/article/50.html ,
http://www.telesputnik.ru/archive/7/article/54.html )

as well as a memoir by Maria Mamyrina 

(http://magazines.russ.ru/neva/2007/9/mm22.html ).

The latter essentially says that a 100-line Seliger system was in use for both Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Belka & Strelka) and Vostok 1, and a modified 400-line version was employed from Vostok 2 on.

The former starts directly with modernization in mid-1961 without explaining when and how the initial version was used. Also, Yuri Mozzhorin refers to the initial system as Seliger -- Tral-D

( http://rgantd.ru/book_2.php?link=mozjorin ).

Yet I cannot decide if the dog pictured at

http://www.telesputnik.ru/images/n07/sobaka.gif

is Laika or not.

It is also known that OKB MEI produced their own version of lunar photocamera / TV tranmission system which was not used. One may ask if an OKB MEI TV-system was indeed in use on PS-2; it would explain why the VNII televideniya people never mention it ..."

Best Wishes

Sven

Mr Sven Grahn
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