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MARS PROBES: The overview of the Russian launches toward Mars:
Plans for Martian missions in post-Soviet period Mars-94 mission The Mars-94 mission, which would include two small landers and two penetrators on the surface of Mars was canceled after budget constraints did not allowed its launch on schedule in October 1994. 2001 lander In December 1997, NASA officials were expected to travel to Moscow to discuss plans for launching a Russian lander toward Mars onboard the US spacecraft in 2001. The agreement initially was expected in 1996, but financial problems did not allow Russian officials to make any commitments. These plans had never materialized. (105) Rockot-launched probes At the end of the 1990s, Moscow-based Institute of Space Research, IKI, considered the possibility of launching small Mars probe and Phobos lander onboard Rockot-Briz launcher. Both spacecraft and the rocket could be built by Khrunichev enterprise. The project stalled due to lack of funds. Russia offers US to launch planetary probes Posted: 2001 June 27 The Russian Aviation and Space Agency, Rosaviacosmos, offered NASA to launch future US planetary missions onboard Russian rockets. According to the proposal, discussed by Russian and US officials in December 2000 in Moscow, Russia could provide its rockets to launch NASA planetary probes in exchange for a fee, which would cover the cost of integration of the US spacecraft with the Russian vehicle. Rosaviacosmos then would use NASA payments to finance Russia's scientific contribution in the US planetary missions. Such a scheme was considered the only realistic possibility for Russian scientists to obtain funds for participating in planetary research. Russia's only independent planetary exploration project, which targets Mars' moon Phobos, has been stalled due to lack of funds. Among the most likely candidates to be launched onboard Russian rockets was the Scout project, which envisioned a series of relatively small spacecraft for the exploration of Mars. Rosaviacosmos offered to launch one or several Scout probes on the Soyuz-Fregat launcher and also to contribute Russian payload, such as a rover, to the project. Theoretically, a more powerful and expensive Proton rocket could also be used to launch NASA's probe toward Pluto, however, the Pluto mission itself has been all but canceled at the time. (It was later re-instated but was launched onboard the US Atlas rocket. Six months after the initial discussions, NASA was yet to respond to the Russian proposal. In light of deteriorating relations between two agencies over the ISS project, the idea had little chance to fly. The issue was expected to be raised again during a visit to Moscow by Dr. Edward Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science. Europe heads to Mars, as Russian planetary science remains grounded Posted: 2003 June 2 Russia successfully launched a European science probe on a mission to explore Mars. The Soyuz/Fregat booster blasted off from Site 31 at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, June 2, 2003, at 23:45 local time (1745 GMT; 1:45 p.m. EDT), carrying the Mars Express spacecraft built by the European Space Agency. After reaching the initial low orbit around the Earth, the Fregat upper stage re-ignited, sending the probe on a six-month journey to Mars. The Mars Express is scheduled to enter the orbit around Mars in December 2003. A small lander will then separate from the orbital module of the spacecraft and land on the Martian surface to conduct a number of scientific studies, including search for traces of life. Two NASA rovers will follow the Mars Express in June 2003, using the same planetary alignment to reach Mars at the end of the year. The Mars
Express became the first planetary mission departing from Baikonur, since
the ill-fated attempt to send Russian Mars-96 spacecraft to the Red Planet
in 1996. The failure of the upper stage of the Proton
rocket left the probe stranded in a decaying low-Earth orbit. The
Mars-96 fiasco essentially ended decades-long Russian planetary exploration
program, as well as dwarfed that country's cooperation with NASA and European
Space Agency, ESA, in the field. During the planning stage of the Mars Express mission, Russian space officials expressed interest in active participation in the scientific part of the project. The Russian Space Agency also offered the rocket as a free contribution into the program. However, ESA preferred to purchase the Soyuz/Fregat booster commercially, in order to avoid dependency on the cash-strapped Russian space program. As a result, Russian scientists had never had a chance to assume any active role in the scientific program of the Mars Express mission. Similar scenario played out during Russian attempts to get involved into NASA-led planetary missions. In the meantime, Russia's own plans to send a probe to Mars and return soil samples from one of its moons had been stalled for years due to lack of funding. Phobos-Grunt If it ever reached the launch pad, Phobos-Grunt would mark an ambitious 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. The Phobos-Grunt concept conceived around 1999, 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 planetary scientists was 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 G. M. Polyshuk. 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 Mecahnics 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, considering 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 official 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 750x750x600-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. Phobos-Aster According to Russian officials, if Phobos-Grunt mission succeeded in 2009, it could serve as a platform for more daring deep space launches, targeting asteroids. Yet, another mission to Mars would be attempted "no later than 2015," according to a number of statements by Russian officials during 2005. This page is maintained by Anatoly Zak; last update: August 24, 2007 |
PICTURE GALLERY
A scale model of the 2MV probe. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak
The 8K78 launcher, carrying the Mars-1 probe, blasts off from Baikonur. Credit: RKK Energia
The engine which propelled 2MV spacecraft toward Mars and Venus. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak
Full-size replica of the Mars-3 spacecraft, minus its entry heat shield on the Mars lander. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak
The Mars-3 lander with its heat shield on the background and small tethered rover (bottom right). Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak
The general view of the Phobos orbiter. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak
The Phobos lander. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak
The Phobos lander. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak
The propulsion unit of the MV spacecraft. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak
The European Mars Express spacecraft launch by a Russian Soyuz rocket with the Fregat upper stage in June 2003. Credit ESA |
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