Phobos-Soil

[syndroma]

Lavochkin Center released interesting 10-minute video about Phobos-Soil project.<br />http://restart.roscosmos.ru/Media/FOBOS2.wmv<br /><br />It seems they've learnt how to make good presentations. It's interesting did they forget how to make good hardware?

 

[thinice]

What's the use of good hardware if there is no way to communicate with it? As I understard, former Soviet deep space communication network desintegrated completely, it needs to be rebuild from ground zero now.

 

[lbiderman]

Well, it is a cooperative world the one we live in now, so they could get support from the NASA DSN. Mars Express used it. The main problem is making sure that the hardware and the software can handle the two-way trip

 

[syndroma]

thinice,<br /> /> <i>former Soviet deep space communication network desintegrated completely</i><br /><br />Not completely. Evpatoria station is Ukrainian now and in unknown condition, but Medvezhi Ozera and Ussuriysk are maintained. Lavochkin Center plans to use these two stations.

 

[chebby]

Just watched the presentation. How come there is no parachute for the earth landing stage?

 

[j05h]

>A very nice movie. That would be an exciting mission.<br /><br />Great stuff, both movie and mission. I made a (not original) observation in another thread recently about Phobos missions. They have a good potential to provide samples from Mars, Deimos and Phobos itself. The samples may be better than what is available on Mars, at least for truly ancient samples (no weathering).<br /><br />Phobos-Grunt would be really cool. I'd like to see JPL involved in the project, if at all possible.<br /><br />Josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>

 

[j05h]

>Possibly true except for (almost) certainty that the Moons did not come from Mars.<br /> <br />Deja vu! You replied the same thing in the other thread! If the two moons have been in orbit around Mars for any geological time, which they have, then they will have swept up Mars-ejected particles. Mars sees escape-velocity and ballistic-velocity (for debris) impacts fairly often. Even if the moons had only been in orbit for a 100,000 years, they would sweep up a scientifically useful amount of ejected Mars material. I'm saying that we can do "Mars sample return" without the trouble of landing on Mars. Phobos-Grunt's sample return only needs to bring back a pebble from Mars for this point to be true. It doesn't matter where the moons came from, what matters is how long they've been acting as garbage-collectors in Mars orbit. <br /><br />If the Martian moons have as much water as claimed, they have the potential to be the most prosperous industrial sites in the inner solar-system, eventually. Almost as easy to reach as Luna, much lower gravity, ready H2O and plenty of minerals. Daily access to low-latitude Martian sites and scheduled access to any Earth-Luna economy. Long-term, of course.<br /><br />Phobos-Grunt would be a great mission to advance knowledge of this moon. My critique of the probe as currently planned is that it doesn't seem to use ISRU and their seems to be minimal international involvement. That probe could be a lot more capable, for instance, if it could talk with MRO. I watched the video and read the net-translated page, but don't understand Russian so they might have addressed those issues. <br /><br />Josh<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>

 

[tohaki]

This would be a very interesting mission. Is there any chance that they could afford it?

 

[j05h]

>This would be a very interesting mission. Is there any chance that they could afford it?<br /><br />Interesting question. "Afford" in the sense of research and design, yes. "Afford" as in successfully fly the mission? Maybe, maybe not. This is why I suggested JPL be involved, they are the only organization in the world that regularly succeeds in getting to Mars. THe Russian scientists work incredibly cheaply compared to others, but that has drawbacks in operational success. <br /><br />j <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Bump.<br /><br />New Article on Yahoo.<br /><br />http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060819/sc_afp/russiascienceindustryspacemars <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[montmein69]

One more link<br /><br />http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESA_Permanent_Mission_in_Russia/SEMIJFW4QWD_0.html<br /><br />At the moment only russian are involved in this mission.<br />But why not use MRO or Mars Express to relay data broadcasting ? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>