Phobos-Grunt Options

[Alex Chapman]

A interesting article indeed. I think that the Universe is most surprised by the fact, that there are Russian Mars rovers collecting dust and waiting for better days. Actual flight hardware? It's hard for me to believe that. Maybe they are talking about prototypes?

I don't find it too hard to believe that the Soviets designed rovers for Mars and even got as far as building flight hardware. When the old Soviet Union broke up and then Mars 96 failed on launch everything was just shelved with no money for the existing programs. What is hard to believe is that they might be thinking of going to the expense of launching a rover that's been in storage for 10 years or so and probably less capable than Sojourner. Lets all not forget that with all their attempts the Soviets have never had a Mars lander thats really worked.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Probably some of us read the story of a Russian Biological experiment on ISS, well now it looks like that those bloodworms could be carried on Phobos Grunt as stated by Oleg Gusev


http://www.nias.affrc.go.jp/anhydrobiosis/...d/e-taisei.html

Well I guess they'll have to consider the probability of contaminating Mars' moon by introducing terrestrial biology to Phobos
As it's a sample return mission, they'll have to keep the sample and the bloodworm containers well separated

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/...&start=1095

According to Novosti Kosmonavtiki work on the Chinese subsatellite has been completed...

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/apr09/8527

Russia to delay Martian Moon mission to 2011. I hope this is not true

[tedstryk]

I am not sad about this. Given the rocket switch and all the complexity of this mission, the "launch on time, ready or not!" attitude seemed dangerously reminiscent of the Mars 4-7 and Phobos 1-2 missions. Also, this should allow a Metnet precursor mission to ride along.

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

Yes, but if they don't launch this year, they may never launch. People are waiting to see the next giant leap, the new projects that will inspire people working in the space industry. The public is getting bored because of all these delays.

[tedstryk]

Right, but better to let them get a little bored than to have a catastrophic failure. Besides, there is no comparable mission in development that would upstage it between then and now.

[Geert]

Right, but better to let them get a little bored than to have a catastrophic failure.

Fully agree, too many missions have been lost in the past due to time-pressure with Mars96 as the ultimate example, the whole Phobos-Grunt situation was too me starting to smell like a repeat of Mars96. Better delay 2 years and take the time.

It is a pity these things tend to get more and more crowded with experiments and more and more ambitious. Just a 'repeat' of the original Phobos mission with a close approach and/or 'landing' on Phobos would already have been a big jump ahead.

I still believe in the original metnet idea, that would be a mission which is 'in reach' without too much futuristic hardware and too big a budget and which could deliver a lot of information and better understanding of Mars. It is a bit of a pity that now everybody seems to like to start building big sexy rovers and forget about those simple small metnet landers...

[remcook]

Don't worry, MetNet will be back, maybe sooner than later.

[cbcnasa]

I think the public gets bored shortly after a mission starts, we can see the value of the long term results and the importance of each new mission. A failed mission from having to rush and make a deadline is so damaging and the need to assure success requires a two year delay if needed.

[Vultur]

I'd much rather have a 2011-launched success than a 2009-launched failure; still, I was rather hoping that a successful sample return from Phobos might kick up plans for more ambitious Mars missions from the US and maybe Europe.

[Phil Stooke]

Nice pic of a mockup.

Phil

[andrea]

This article is not too positive:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0904/25russia/

[Vultur]

So there's still no official statement of the delay?

How reliable is it: is it just rumors at this point, or should we believe it? It seems from the article that it's just one person's speculation (admittedly someone who should know, but politics could be involved...)

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

Russia refutes rumors that Phobos-Grunt will be delayed

http://www.roscosmos.ru/NewsDoSele.asp?NEWSID=6142
Roscosmos just announced that the information about delaying the mission Phobos-Grunt to 2011 is false. Everything is on track for launch this year.