Phobos Grunt

Phobos Grunt

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Phobos Grunt is a planned Russian sample return mission to Phobos, a moon of Planet Mars. It will be the first Russian interplanetary mission since the failed Mars 96 mission. Phobos-Grunt maybe launched in 2009 on a Soyuz rocket.

Phobos Grunt Picture - Russian sample return mission

Mission

The aim of the mission is:

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 is 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).

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) includes the Chinese Yinghuo-1 spacecraft being sent together to Mars with Phobos-Grunt on October, 2009.

Propulsion: Electric jet propulsion is considered for this mission.

Yinghuo-1

Yinghuo-1 is the first Chinese Mars mission. It will be launched in a dual-launch with Phobos-Grunt. If launch is successful in 2009, after a 10 – 11.5 months cruise will enter Mars orbit in August / September 2010.

The spacecraft is expected to remain on Martian orbit for one year. Phobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 will complete occultation experiments.

Did you know?

* The Babakin Science and Research Space Centre is a branch enterprise of Lavochkin Association (Lavochkin Design Bureau), one of Russia's leading enterprises in the development of interplanetary spacecraft. It is named after Georgy N. Babakin, Chief Designer of the Lavochkin Association from 1965 to 1971. He was a founder of space-craft engineering at Lavochkin Association. It is managed by Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency.

* The last Russian mission to Planet Mars was Mars 96 orbiter. It was launched in 1996 and crashed into the Pacific Ocean due to problems with the Proton launch vehicle. Mars 96 spacecraft was based on the Phobos spacecraft design. Mars 96 at the time of its launch was intended to be the heaviest interplanetary probe ever launched.

Books and DVDs:

Books on Mars: Section with various books on topics related to Planet Mars.

Mars DVD: Includes documentaries, TV shows and movies.