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Searching for details: The author of this page will appreciate comments, corrections and imagery related to the subject. Please contact Anatoly Zak. Acknowledgments: Author would like to thank Georgy Poleshyuk, director general of NPO Lavochkin and his team at ILA 2008 show for their help in preparing this section. |
When it finally reaches the launch pad, Phobos-Grunt will mark a revival of the Russian planetary exploration program, which has been left penniless and demoralized ever since an ill-fated Mars-96 spacecraft plunged into the Earth atmosphere in October 1996. Despite all previous setbacks, Russian scientists chose a bold (and critics said overly ambitious) plan to bring back a piece of Martian moon Phobos, as their nation's debut in deep space. History of the Phobos Grunt project The Phobos-Grunt project was conceived in 1999 and envisioned a multi-purpose mission to Mars, with a key goal of landing on the surface of the Martian moon Phobos and returning its soil samples back to Earth. As a bonus, the spacecraft would have many opportunities to study Mars from its orbit. Despite being within a grasp of current technology and bringing a potential windfall of scientific data, no other space agencies pursued a similar mission scenario, since the main focus of the international science community concentrated on the surface of Mars. For years, Phobos-Grunt remained a "paper project," without any chance of taking off, as Russian space science struggled to survive in the first years of the 21st century. Once discussed launch window of 2007 had to be dropped as unrealistic; while after several revisions, the Phobos-Grunt project was scaled down to fit into the Soyuz-2/Fregat -- a less expensive rocket than Proton. The "smaller, cheaper" concept was apparently advocated by the Babakin center, a "spinoff" of NPO Lavochkin, a prime developer of Russia's planetary probes, including the "original" Phobos-Grunt. Further scaling down of the project was apparently under consideration as well. In February 2004, head of the Russian space agency Yuri Koptev was talking about Focus-Mars project, which would "only" involve the main craft and landers on the surface of Mars and Phobos. In the meantime, Russian economic situation was slowly improving, giving Russian scientists another chance for deep-space exploration. In February 2004, the official at Institute of Space Research, IKI, which traditionally devised science missions for Russian planetary probes, was quoted as saying that federal government allocated 40 million rubles to the project during 2004. At the time, a total price tug of the mission, including the launch vehicle was estimated at more than one billion rubles. On October 22, 2005, the Russian government signed a decree No. 635, approving Federal Space Program for 2006-2015. It included funding for the Phobos-Grunt project, then slated for launch in October 2009 onboard the Soyuz-2 rocket. During 2005, a number of Russian officials at the space agency and within the industry continued to maintain that the mission would be launched in 2009. In June 2006, NPO Lavochkin announced that it started manufacturing and testing the development version of the spacecraft hardware and onboard avionics. The development mockup of the vehicle was also under assembly, according to NPO Lavochkin. On April 5, 2007, Chief Designer Council of the Phobos-Grunt held a meeting chaired by the head of NPO Lavochkin Georgy Poleshyuk. It was attended by representatives of the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, Space Research Institute, IKI RAN and various sub-contractors involved in the project. Igor Goroshkov, the chief designer of the project, along with a number of other developers reported on the state of the spacecraft. At the time, another key meeting, considering the status of the ground control segment of the Phobos-Grunt project was planned for May 2007. It did take place on Aug. 15, 2007. The deep-space network supporting Phobos-Grunt project was expected to involve ground control stations in Medvezhiy Ozera, Ussuriysk, Lavochkin mission control center, the Ballistic Center of Applied Mechanics Institute of the Academy of Sciences, IPM RAN, and Ground Complex of the Space Research Institute, NK IKI. Also, during 2007, reports surfaced about the possibility of using Phobos-Grunt, as a data-relay satellite for the European ExoMars rover, which was expected to land on the surface of Mars. Chinese sub-probe on Phobos-Grunt In June 2005, the head of the Russian space agency Anatoly Perminov said that China would join the Phobos-Grunt mission. In November 2006, Russian officials confirmed earlier reports, saying that the Chinese sub-satellite would be released from Phobos-Grunt in the Martian orbit. On June 27, 2007, Roskosmos announced that the third meeting of the Russian-Chinese group on lunar and deep space exploration took place at the agency's headquarters in Moscow. It considered joint work on Phobos-Grunt, Worldwide Space Observatory/Ultrafiolet and Radioastron. Two sides signed a contract based on the agreement on the exploration of Phobos and Mars reached on March 26, 2007. The agreement was signed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin during Mr. Hu’s recent visit to Russia. Chinese specialists were also expected to visit NPO Lavochkin design bureau, which served as a key developer of the Phobos-Grunt project. Depictions of the Phobos-Grunt released at the time showed Chinese sub-probe, identified as Yinghuo-1, mounted on top of the spacecraft assembly. According to the official Chinese media, the sub-probe had a shape of a 750 x 750 x 600-millimeter box with the mass of 110 kilograms and equipped with solar panels, which would span 7.85 meters, when deployed. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University also announced that as a result of the March 26, 2007 agreement, the institution was charged with the responsibility to develop the 230-gramm "Soil Preparation System," capable of grinding and sifting Phobos rock to the size of less than 1 millimeter in diameter for in situ analysis by the Phobos-Grunt lander. The grinding tool would be placed at the end of the remotely controlled manipulator, also carrying a miniature spectrometer and a camera. The system was expected to be used for selecting soil samples, which would be eventually loaded onboard the reentry capsule, for a ride back to Earth. Switch to the Zenit rocket The inclusion of the Chinese satellite maxed out the capabilities of the Soyuz-2 rocket, prompting mission planners to switch to the Zenit rocket, which was itself upgraded with the Fregat upper stage. As an added bonus, the Zenit provided enough redundant lifting capability to launch the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft with its full complement of international payloads in the launch window of 2011, which was less favorable then the primary departure time in 2009. NEXT CHAPTER: Preparing for launch APPENDIX Mass breakdown for the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft in kilograms (as of May 2008):
Page author: Anatoly Zak; last update: June 23, 2008 All rights reserved |
PICTURE GALLERY
A scale model of Russia's flagship planetary mission, Phobos-Grunt was demonstrated at the ILA 2008 air and space show in Berlin. If launched as promised in 2009, it would the only Russian launch beyond Earth orbit in the first decade of the 21st century. Click to enlarge. Copyright © 2008 Anatoly Zak Below: The final architecture of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft unveiled at ILA 2008 air and space show in Berlin.
A configuration of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft in the low-Earth orbit. Click to enlarge Copyright © 2008 RussianSpaceWeb.com via NPO Lavochkin
A configuration of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft on the surface of Phobos, after the departure of the return rocket with soil samples. Click to enlarge Copyright © 2008 RussianSpaceWeb.com via NPO Lavochkin
Major elements of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. Click to enlarge Copyright © 2008 RussianSpaceWeb.com via NPO Lavochkin |
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