Russian Mission to Phobos

[BReif]

Didn't the Russians launch two "Phobos" missions in 1988, and both failed? One failed to even reach LEO, and the other failed just after reaching Mars, a victim of the "Galactic Ghoul"? <br /><br />I guess they are going to try this mission again.

 

[JonClarke]

The Phobos spacecraft were the largest planetary missions ever launched - bigger than Cassini-Huygens. There were designed to collect data in two phases, a Mars orbit phase, studying the planet, and the in a rendezvous with Phobos they would use lasers and ion beams to analyse the surface, a small hopper and a surface station would also have been deployed. <br /><br />They were very different to the Phobos-soil spacecraft, which will be much smaller (Soyuz-Fregat rather than Proton), will have ion propulsion, and will be dedicated to sample return rather than detailed in situ analysis.<br /><br />Both Phobos spacecraft launched successfully, Phobos 1 lost contact during transit, Phobos 2 as it approached Phobos. Both failures were attributed to software problems. It was very disapointing. Development was very pressed for a such a ambitious spacecraft, the extreme size of the probes meant that it had to be launched in the favourable 1988 opposition, or not at all. To add to the problems, apparently the project management team had little previous space mission experience. <br /><br />However it is very important to remember that Phobos 2 did complete phase 1 of the mission and some goals of phase 2. It collected much valuable and new information on Mars using instruments not available on earlier missions like Viking. Phobos 2 also made new measurements of Phobos including the fact that it appears to be outgassing slightly, and the first colour pictures. It was the only Mars mission to return new data between Viking and Pathfinder. The data is still be used today.<br /><br />Coincidently I have just aquired a book on the Phobos 2 mission. Unfortunately it is in Russian so I just have to find someone to translate for me. But the pictures are cool! A couple of years ago I met some of the engineers who had worked on Phobos (and Luna, Mars, and Venera). Amazing characters.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Looks likes the Chinese will be participating in this mission. http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/China_And_Russia_To_Launch_Joint_Mission_To_Mars_999.html<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>