Phobos-Grunt
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| Organization | Russian Federal Space Agency |
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| Mission type | Orbiter, lander, sample return |
| Flyby of | Phobos |
| Satellite of | Mars |
| Launch date | 2011[1] |
| Launch vehicle | Zenit rocket |
| Mission duration | Three years |
| Mass | 11,100 kg with fuel |
Phobos-Grunt (Russian: Фобос-Грунт Fobos-Grunt; "Phobos Soil") is a planned Russian sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. The Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 will be sent together with the mission. Scheduled for launch late 2011 or early 2012, Phobos-Grunt will be the first Russian interplanetary mission since the failed Mars 96 mission. If successful, this will be the first extraterrestrial sample from a planetary body brought back to earth since the last sample return mission by Luna 24 in 1976.
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[edit] Overview
Phobos-Grunt is an unmanned lander that will study Phobos and then return a soil sample to Earth. It will also study Mars from orbit, including its atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation. It is currently scheduled to be launched in 2011[1] on a Zenit rocket launcher with a Fregat upper stage. The return vehicle will be back on Earth in 2012.[2]
[edit] Schedule
The mission was originally scheduled for launch in October, 2009. During the year, officials admitted that the schedule was very tight, but still hoped until the last moment that a launch could be made.[3] On 21 September, it was officially announced that the mission would be delayed to the next launch window in 2011.[1][4][5][6]
[edit] Mission objectives and studies
- Collect soil samples from Phobos and return them to Earth for scientific research on Phobos, Mars, and Martian space.
- In situ and remote studies of Phobos (to include analysis of soil samples)
- Monitoring the atmospheric behavior of Mars, including the dynamics of dust storms
- Studies of the vicinity of Mars, to include its radiation environment and plasma and dust[2]
- Study of the origin of the Martian satellites and their relation to Mars
- Study of the role played by asteroid impacts in the formation of terrestrial planets
- Search for possible past or present life[7]
- Sending select extremophile microorganisms on a three-year interplanetary round-trip in a small sealed capsule (LIFE experiment).[8]
[edit] Mission description
The journey to Mars will take about ten months. The spacecraft will then spend several months studying the planet and its moons from orbit, before landing on Phobos.
Immediately after the touchdown, the lander will load a soil sample into a return rocket. In case of a breakdown of communications with mission control, it can enter an emergency mode to collect samples and still send them home in the return rocket. Normal collection could last from two days to a week. The robotic arm can collect rocks up to about half an inch in diameter. It ends in a pipe-shaped tool that splits to form a claw. This encloses a piston that will push the soil sample into an artillery-shell-shaped container. A light-sensitive photo-diode in the claw will help scientists confirm that the device did scoop material. They hope also to see images of trenches the claw leaves on the surface. The manipulator should perform 15 to 20 scoops yielding a total of 3 to 5.5 ounces (85 to 160 g) of soil.[9][10]
The return rocket will sit atop the spacecraft, and will need to rise at 35 km/h (22 mph) to escape Phobos' gravity. To protect experiments remaining on the lander, springs will vault the rocket to a safe height, at which its engines will fire and begin maneuvers for the eventual trip to Earth.[9]
The lander's experiments will continue in-situ on Phobos' surface for a year. To conserve power, mission control will turn these on and off in a precise sequence. The robotic arm will place more samples in a chamber that will heat it and analyze its spectrum. This analysis might determine the presence of easily vaporized substances, such as water.[9]
The landing site that has been chosen is a region from 5°S to 5°N, 230° to 235°W.[11]
[edit] Instruments
- TV-System for Navigation and Guidance[12]
- Gamma ray spectrometer[13]
- Neutron spectrometer[13]
- Alpha X spectrometer[13]
- Mass spectrometer[13]
- Seismometer[13]
- Long-wave radar[13]
- Visual and near-infrared spectrometer[13]
- Dust counter[13]
- Ion spectrometer[13]
- Optical Solar Sensor[14]
[edit] Partners
The Chinese Mars probe Yinghuo-1 will be sent together with Phobos-Grunt.[15] On August-September 2010, after a 10 – 11.5 months cruise, Yinghuo-1 separates and enters a 800 x 80,000 km three day equatorial orbit (5° inclination). The spacecraft is expected to remain on Martian orbit for one year. Yinghuo-1 will focus mainly on the study of the external environment of Mars. Space center researchers will use photographs and data to study the magnetic field of Mars and the interaction between ionospheres, escape particles and solar wind.[16]
A second Chinese payload, the Soil Offloading and Preparation System (SOPSYS), is to be integrated into the instruments of the lander. SOPSYS is a microgravity grinding tool developed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.[17][18]
Another passenger on the Phobos-Grunt is an experiment from the Planetary Society called Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment, or LIFE, which will send 10 types of microorganisms and a natural soil colony of microbes on the three-year round trip. The results may fuel the debate about whether meteorite-riding organisms can spread life throughout the solar system.[3][19]
Furthermore, two MetNet Mars landers, developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, are planned to be included as a payload to the Phobos-Grunt mission.[20][21] Due to delays in MetNet development, the landers were not ready for the previous launch date of Phobos-Grunt, 2009. However, since Phobos-Grunt was delayed to 2011, MetNet is expected to be included.[5]
[edit] Development
The space mission component development is led by the company NPO Lavochkin. Phobos soil sampling and downloading have 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 Russian Space Research Institute.[2]
Development started in 2001 and the preliminary design was completed in 2004. The cost of the spacecraft is 1.5 billion rubles ($64.4 million).[10] Total project funding for the timeframe 2009-2012 is about 2.4 billion rubles.[5] If successful, Phobos-Grunt could pave way to a number of Russian interplanetary missions, including missions to the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, and asteroid and comet sample return missions.[22]
During 2008, according to Russianspaceweb.com, the Moscow-based Space Research Institute, which is responsible for the scientific payload package, completed the manufacturing of technological prototypes of all scientific instruments. "All that hardware had been checked on a newly constructed test stand at IKI before being transferred to NPO Lavochkin for further tests with the actual spacecraft bus, the institute's documents showed. Also in 2008, IKI reported the start of the manufacturing of scientific instruments for qualification tests and for the actual mission. However there was no word on the completing the flight-worthy scientific payload by the end of 2008, in order to maintain the 2009 launch date."[5]
ESA's info page on the mission from 2004 states, that the mission may be propelled by controllable electric jet propulsion due to its capability for smooth changing of the propulsion output parameters along the flight trajectory.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c . РИА Новости. 2009-09-21. http://www.rian.ru/science/20090921/185905786.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ a b c d "ESA info page on Phobos-Grunt". European Space Agency. http://www.esa.int/esaMI/ESA_Permanent_Mission_in_Russia/SEMIJFW4QWD_0.html. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ^ a b Zak, Anatoly (2008-11-01). "Mission Possible - A new probe to a Martian moon may win back respect for Russia’s unmanned space program". AirSpaceMag.com. http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Mission_Possible.html?c=y&page=4. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ^ http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Russia_delays_Mars_probe_launch_until_2012_report_999.html
- ^ a b c d Zak, Anatoly. "Preparing for flight". Russianspaceweb.com. http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt_preflight.html. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ^ Zak, Anatoly (2009-04). "Russia to Delay Martian Moon Mission". IEEE Spectrum. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/apr09/8527. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ^ Russian programme for deep space exploration, O. Korablev, Space Research Institute (IKI)
- ^ Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment (LIFE)
- ^ a b c Mission Possible A new probe to a Martian moon may win back respect for Russia’s unmanned space program.
- ^ a b Russia to study Martian moons once again
- ^ Images of Mars Express’ closest ever flyby at Phobos
- ^ "Optico-electronic Instruments for the Phobos-Grunt Mission". Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. http://www.iki.rssi.ru/innov/eng/fg22.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harvey, Brian (2007). "Resurgent - the new projects". The Rebirth of the Russian Space *Program (1st ed.). Germany: Springer. ISBN 9780387713540.
- ^ "Optical Solar Sensor". Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. http://arc.iki.rssi.ru/ofo/page_osd_e.html. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
- ^ "With a Russian hitch-hike, China heading to Mars". May 21, 2007. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5107.
- ^ "China and Russia join hands to explore Mars". People's Daily Online. May 30, 2007. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200705/30/eng20070530_379330.html. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Chinese satellite to orbit Mars in 2009". China Daily. March 27, 2007. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-03/28/content_838049.htm.
- ^ "HK triumphs with out of this world invention". HK Trader. May 1, 2007. http://www.hktrader.net/200705/lead/lead-SpaceMission200705.htm.
- ^ LIFE Experiment: Phobos
- ^ MetNet Mars Precursor Mission
- ^ Space technology – a forerunner in Finnish-Russian high-tech cooperation
- ^ Russian space program: a decade review (2000-2010)
- M. Ya. Marov, V. S. Avduevsky, E. L. Akim, T. M. Eneev, R. S. Kremnevich, S. D. Kulikovich, K. M. Pichkhadzec, G. A. Popov, G. N. Rogovshyc (2004). "Phobos-Grunt: Russian sample return mission". Advances in Space Research 33 (12): 2276–2280. doi:.
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