[meteorite-list] Daring Russian Sample Return Mission to Phobos Aims For November Liftoff

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:18:05 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201110132218.p9DMI5Jp012495_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.universetoday.com/89845/daring-russian-sample-return-mission-to-martian-moon-phobos-aims-for-november-liftoff/

Daring Russian Sample Return mission to Martian Moon Phobos aims for
November Liftoff

by Ken Kremer
Universe Today
October 13, 2011

In just over 3 weeks time, Russia plans to launch a bold mission to Mars who's
objective, if successful, is to land on the Martian Moon Phobos and return a
cargo of precious soil samples back to Earth about three years later.

The purpose is to determine the origin and evolution of Phobos and how
that relates to Mars and the evolution of the solar system.

Liftoff of the Phobos-Grunt space probe will end a nearly two decade
long hiatus in Russia's exploration of the Red Planet following the
failed Mars 96 mission and is currently scheduled to head to space just
weeks prior to this year's other Mars mission - namely NASA's next Mars
rover, the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

Blastoff of Phobos-Grunt may come as early as around Nov. 5 to Nov. 8
atop a Russian Zenit 3-F rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan. The launch window extends until about Nov. 25. Elements of
the spacecraft are undergoing final prelaunch testing at Baikonur.

Baikonur is the same location from which Russian manned Soyuz rockets
lift off for the International Space Station. Just like NASA's Curiosity
Mars rover, the mission was originally intended for a 2009 launch but was
prudently delayed to fix a number of technical problems.

"November will see the launch of the Phobos-Grunt interplanetary
automatic research station aimed at delivering samples of the Martian
natural satellite's soil to Earth", said Vladimir Popovkin, head of the
Russian Federal Space Agency, speaking recently at a session of the
State Duma according to the Voice of Russia, a Russian government news
agency.

The spacecraft will reach the vicinity of Mars after an 11 month
interplanetary cruise around October 2012. Following several months of
orbital science investigations of Mars and its two moons and searching
for a safe landing site, Phobos-Grunt will attempt history's first ever
touchdown on Phobos. It will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the
surface of the tiny moon and collect up to 200 grams of soil and rocks
with a robotic arm and drill.

After about a year of surface operations, the loaded return vehicle will
blast off from Phobos and arrive back at Earth around August 2014. These
would be the first macroscopic samples returned from another body in the
solar system since Russia's Luna 24 in 1976.

"The way back will take between nine and 11 months, after which the
return capsule will enter Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 12 kilometers
per second. The capsule has neither parachute nor radio communication
and will break its speed thanks to its conical shape," said chief
spacecraft constructor Maksim Martynov according to a report from the
Russia Today news agency. He added that there are two soil collection
manipulators on the lander because of uncertainties in the
characteristics of Phobos soil.

Phobos-Grunt was built by NPO Lavochkin and consists of a cruise stage,
orbiter/lander, ascent vehicle, and Earth return vehicle.

The spacecraft weighs nearly 12,000 kg and is equipped with a
sophisticated 50 kg international science payload, in particular from
France and CNES, the French Space Agency.

Also tucked aboard is the Yinghou-1 microsatellite supplied by China.
The 110 kg Yinghou-1 is China's first probe to launch to Mars and will
study the Red Planet's magnetic and gravity fields and surface
environment from orbit for about 1 year.

"It will be the first time such research [at Mars] will be done by two
spacecraft simultaneously. The research will help understand how the
erosion of Mars' atmosphere happens," said Professor Lev Zelyony from
the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Science,
according to Russia Today.
Received on Thu 13 Oct 2011 06:18:05 PM PDT