Exploration of terrestrial planets from spacecraft: instrumentation, investigation, interpretation.

This book is an English translation of the Russian original "Kosmokhimicheskie issledovaniia planet i sputnikov" published in 1985. It describes the methods, instrumentation and experimental results which have already been used or which will be used by space vehicles for exploring the composition, structure and properties of extraterrestrial material, on the basis of which modern concepts of the planets and planetary satellites have been developed. Contents: Part I. Modern concepts of planets and satellites. 1. Origin and evolution of the solar system. 2. Mercury. 3. Venus. 4. Mars. 5. Planetary satellites. Part II. Exploration of planets and satellites by space vehicles. 1. Gamma-ray spectrometric studies. 2. X-ray spectrometric studies. 3. Neutronmetry. 4. Alpha-spectrometry. 5. Mass-spectrometric studies. 6. The exploration of Mars and Phobos (Phobos mission). 7. First results of gamma-ray measurements of Mars from Phobos 2 spacecraft.