Fobos-Grunt

Fobos-Grunt

Model of Fobos-Grunt spacecraft at the 2011 Paris Air Show
Names	Phobos-Grunt Фобос-Грунт Phobos-Ground
Mission type	Phobos lander Sample return
Operator	Roscosmos
COSPAR ID	2011-065A
SATCAT no.	37872
Mission duration	3 years (planned) Failed in Earth orbit
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Lavochkin, Russian Space Research Institute
Launch mass	13,505 kg (29,773 lb)[1]
Dry mass	2,300 kg (5,100 lb)
Power	1 kW (main orbiter/lander) + 300 W (Earth return vehicle)[2]
Start of mission
Launch date	8 November 2011, 20:16:02 UTC
Rocket	Zenit-2SB41
Launch site	Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 45/1
Contractor	Yuzhmash
Entered service	Failed on orbit
End of mission
Last contact	24 November 2011
Decay date	15 January 2012, 17:46 UTC[3]
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit[3]
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	207 km (129 mi)
Apogee altitude	342 km (213 mi)
Inclination	51.43°
Period	90.0 minutes
Instruments GAP Soil molecular composition analysis MDGF Gamma-ray spectrometer MAIN Neutron spectrometer Lazma Mass spectrometer flight time MANAGA Mass spectrometer THERMOFOB Thermic probe RLR Radar Seismo-1 Seismometer MIMOS Mössbauer spectrometer METEOR-F Micrometeoroids detector DIAMOND Dust detector FPMS Plasma analysis AOST Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer TIMM-2 Solar occultation spectrometer MicrOmega Spectral microscope TSNG Cameras
Russian Mars programme ← Mars 96 Mars-Grunt →

Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt (Russian: Фобос-Грунт, lit. 'Phobos-surface') was an attempted Russian sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. Fobos-Grunt also carried the Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 and the tiny Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment funded by the Planetary Society.^[4][5]

It was launched on 8 November 2011, at 20:16 UTC, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, but subsequent rocket burns intended to set the craft on a course for Mars failed, leaving it stranded in low Earth orbit.^[6][7] Efforts to reactivate the craft were unsuccessful, and it fell back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry on 15 January 2012, over the Pacific Ocean, west of Chile.^[8][9][10] The return vehicle was to have returned to Earth in August 2014, carrying up to 200 g (7.1 oz) of soil from Phobos.

Funded by the Russian Federal Space Agency and developed by Lavochkin and the Russian Space Research Institute, Fobos-Grunt was the first Russian-led interplanetary mission since the failed Mars 96. The last successful interplanetary missions were the Soviet Vega 2 in 1985–1986, and the partially successful Phobos 2 in 1988–1989.^[11] Fobos-Grunt was designed to become the first spacecraft to return a macroscopic sample from an extraterrestrial body since Luna 24 in 1976.^[12]