Phobos Grunt was a Russian sample return mission to Phobos, a moon of Planet Mars. It was the first Russian interplanetary mission since the failed Mars 96 mission. Phobos-Grunt was launched on 8th November 2011 on a Zenit 2SB rocket.

BREAKING NEWS: Russia's Phobos Grunt spacecraft has had nothing but problems since launching into space on November 8, 2011. ‎It crashed into the Pacific Ocean at approx. 12:45 pm EST (1745 GMT) on Sunday 15th, January 2012.

The $170 million craft was one of the heaviest and most toxic pieces of space junk ever to crash to Earth.

Mission

The aim of the mission was:

1. To collect soil samples from Phobos moon and return them to Earth for scientific research.

2. In situ and remote studies of Phobos including analysis of soil samples.

3. To study Planet Mars and its environment, including atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation.

The space mission development was led by Babakin Science and Research Space Centre (Lavochkin). Phobos soil sampling and downloading has been assigned to the GEOHI RAN Institute of the Russian Academy of Science (Vernadski Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical chemistry) and the integrated scientific studies of Phobos and Mars by remote and contact methods are being developed by the IKI RAN Institute (Space Research Institute).

Name:

The mission was called Phobos-Grunt - 'grunt' means 'soil' in Russian.

History

* Development started in 2001 and the preliminary design was completed in 2004.

* In August 2006, China announced that they would supply the survey equipment for the mission.

* In September 2006, Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency said that they were planning to sign a contract with China by the end of the year.

* The agreement (as of August 2007) included the Chinese Yinghuo-1 spacecraft being sent together to Mars with Phobos-Grunt on October, 2009.

Propulsion: Electric jet propulsion was considered for this mission.

* Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was launched on 8th November 2011 on a Zenit 2SB rocket. Phobos-Grunt was scheduled to reach Mars September 2012. The Sample Return Vehicle was scheduled to reach Earth in August 2014.

* Since launching into space on November 8, 2011 the spacecraft has been trapped in Earth orbit. ‎It crashed on Earth January 15, 2012. It was the 3rd uncontrolled re-entry of a big spacecraft in the last four months prior. NASA's 6.5-ton UARS satellite came down in September 2011 and the 2.7-ton German satellite ROSAT followed one month later in October 2011.

Yinghuo-1

Yinghuo-1 was the first Chinese Mars mission and weighed 115kg. It was launched in a dual-launch with Phobos-Grunt. If launch was successful in 2011, after a 10 – 11.5 months cruise it would have entered  Mars orbit in August / September 2012.

The spacecraft was expected to remain in Martian orbit for one year. Phobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 were to complete occultation experiments.

Did you know?

Phobos Grunt Links

• ESA Permanent Mission in Russia - Phobos-Grunt: ESA.
Also Picture source.
• Martian Moon 'could be key test': BBC

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Updated: Saturday 23rd, February, 2013