The End of Phobos-Grunt

The doomed Russian spacecraft, Phobos-Grunt has finally come crashing back to Earth.  I didn't want to admit to myself that it was going to end this way, but now there is no denying it.  Earlier today, Phobos-Grunt re-entered Earth's atmosphere, and while some of it burned up, debris did come down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Chile.  So ends the latest Russian interplanetary mission.

Artist's conception of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft.

Phobos-Grunt was intended to fly to the Martian moon, Phobos, and return a soil sample via a small re-entry capsule.  It would have been the first return sample from the Mars system by any nation.  However, shortly after the November launch, ground controllers in Moscow lost contact with the spacecraft.  Apparently, two planned rocket burns never occurred, and the spacecraft never left Earth orbit.  For weeks, controllers tried to re-establish contact, and except for one short communication, contact was never fully regained.  Hope remained for some weeks that the spacecraft could be salvaged, but, clearly, that never happened.

Russia (and before them, the Soviet Union) has had a long history of mission failures to the red planet.  Of the nearly 20 missions Russia has aimed at Mars, none have been complete successes, and only a handful have partially succeeded.  The Phobos-Grunt disaster is reminiscent of the Mars 96 incident, where a complex Mars orbiter and lander failed to leave Earth's orbit and burned up over the Pacific.  This latest failure, coupled with a recent spate of other space failures, has Russia's government putting the pressure on those in the space industry.  President Medvedev even went so far as to threaten prosecution of engineers and scientists who work on failed missions.  Succeed or rot in prison - a truly sound policy!

Where Russia goes from here isn't yet clear.  Russia takes space exploration seriously, and despite this latest failure, I believe they will continue with interplanetary science missions.  There is some talk of the Russians being involved with the upcoming ExoMars mission.  ExoMars is a collaboration between the ESA and NASA, and would launch an orbiter to Mars in 2016.  That orbiter could be partially outfitted with Russian instruments and be launched atop a Russian Proton rocket.  A rover would follow in 2018, but it is not yet known if Russia would help with that part of the mission.

Stuck in orbit, Phobos-Grunt as seen from Earth (Ralf Vandebergh).

Russia is an important international partner in humanity's continued exploration of space.  With luck, they will rebound from this setback, and contribute on future missions to the red planet and beyond.

Phobos-Grunt Update - Promising News!

After more than two weeks stuck in Earth orbit, Russian flight engineers have finally made contact with the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft.  In a last ditch effort to save the 165 million dollar mission, the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, elicited the help of the European Space Agency and attempted to contact Phobos-Grunt using ground station antennas in Perth, Australia.  Miraculously, contact with the ill-fated spacecraft was established.  After several more passes over Perth, telemetry data was downloaded, and Russian engineers began deciphering the coded data.  Why, exactly, contact couldn't be made up until now isn't yet known, however it appears that the solar arrays of the spacecraft were in an optimal position while it was over Perth, and the extra energy generated allowed for Phobos-Grunt to communicate with Earth.  It still remains unclear what exactly caused the failure of the orbital engine burns, but further analysis of the data and continued contact with the spacecraft will most likely allow engineers to discover the problem.

Phobos-Grunt mission poster (Roskosmos).

Now the question becomes - if Phobos-Grunt can be saved, what to do with it?  The window to send the spacecraft to Mars appears to now be closed, although some debate on this matter remains.  If, indeed, it is too late to try for Mars, the mission may still be salvaged.  One option is to keep the spacecraft in Earth orbit for another two years, until the launch window for Mars again opens, and then send it on its way.  Although, there may not be enough fuel on board for this.  The other option is to completely change the mission objectives, and send the spacecraft to a near Earth asteroid.  The parameters of the mission would essentially be the same, as Phobos is thought to be an asteroid that was captured by Mars's gravity.  So landing on an asteroid, and launching the soil recovery capsule, wouldn't be outside the abilities of the spacecraft.  However, it would take new software and new calculations, and a completely new flight path - and that too could take some time.  Of course any of these options require that enough data can be downloaded from the spacecraft to isolate the initial problem, and then that problem must be fixed.

If Phobos-Grunt cannot be salvaged, it will burn up upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on or about January 15th, 2012.  Read more here.

Phobos-Grunt Crisis

Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission is in dire straits.  As I wrote earlier, Phobos-Grunt is an ambitious mission.  Its main objective is to land on Mars's asteroid-like moon, Phobos, and return a sample of the surface back to Earth.  If successful, it will be the first direct sample return from the Mars system, and it will be Russia's first successful planetary mission in decades.  "If successful," being the key term, there.

The mission began with a perfect launch aboard a Zenit rocket at about noon PST, on November 8th.  Serious problems arose shortly thereafter.  After achieving the proper parking orbit, Phobos-Grunt was to make two engine burns, which would send the craft on its way out of Earth orbit, and toward Mars.  When neither rocket burn occurred, the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, lost contact with the spacecraft, and its orbit was unknown.

The Zenit rocket carrying Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, shortly before launch (Roskosmos).

There was no contact with Phobos-Grunt until today, when, with the help of US military tracking stations, Roskosmos finally determined exact orbital parameters of the craft, and they were able to download telemetry data.  Once this data is processed and analyzed, it should be clear what the problem with the craft is, and whether or not it can be fixed. 

There are, basically, two possible scenarios.  The problem with Phobos-Grunt could be electrical or mechanical, meaning the on board computers are functioning, and gave proper commands to the engines, but the engines failed to fire because the are physically unable to do so.  The other scenario is that the computer software is faulty.  It may be that the proper commands were simply never given by the computer, and the engines never got the go-ahead to burn.  If the problem is mechanical or electrical, the mission is done.  Phobos-Grunt will remain in orbit for a week or two, then plummet into Earth's atmosphere and burn up in a fiery repeat of the Mars 96 mission.  However, if the software is the problem, it is still possible for Roskosmos to upload new software that can give correct commands to the engines, and the mission might still make it to Mars after all.

Downloading the telemetry data from the craft is a good first sign that salvation may be possible.  Communication with Phobos-Grunt is vital if the mission is to move forward.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that nothing else goes wrong, and that in a few years scientists will be pouring over regolith samples from Phobos!

Check back here for all your Phobos-Grunt updates.  Also, check out russianspaceweb.com

Russia Sets its Sights on Phobos

Russia is finally getting back into the game - the interplanetary space exploration game, that is.  Next month, Russia is set to launch their first interplanetary probe in 15 years.  And if all goes according to plan, it promises to be an extraordinary mission.  The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft consists of a lander that also acts as an orbiter.  Once in Martian orbit, the spacecraft will study both Mars and Phobos for several months, and after a suitable landing place has been found, it will descend to the surface of Phobos.  Once there, it will conduct a thorough scientific investigation of the surface and then collect a soil sample, seal the sample in a return capsule, and blast it back to Earth.  A sample return mission has never been attempted for Mars or either of its moons, so this is really an ambitious and exciting mission.

The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos.  Both are tiny, and are thought to be asteroids that were captured by Mars's gravity.  By contrast, our own Moon was most likely formed when a planetoid object collided with the early Earth, and the debris coalesced into the Moon.  A soil sample from Phobos will undoubtedly confirm the asteroid-capture theory.

Phobos as seen from the Mars Express spacecraft (ESA).

Russia's last interplanetary mission, Mars 96, ended in complete disaster.  Planned to be an orbiter and two landers, Mars 96 failed to escape Earth orbit, and burned up over the Pacific.  If Phobos-Grunt can succeed, it will certainly be a feather in the cap of Russia's space agency, and a leap forward in our understanding of how the Mars system formed.  France's space agency, CNES, is partnering with Russia on Phobos-Grunt, and has contributed some of the scientific instrumentation aboard the spacecraft.

Artist's rendition of Phobos-Grunt lander with sample return capsule detached at top.

Along for the ride with Phobos-Grunt is a small, Chinese satellite, named Yinghou-1.  It will be China's first spacecraft to the Red Planet.  It will be released into Martian orbit, and have a scientific mission to study the Martian gravitational and magnetic fields for about a year.

Read what NASA has to say about Phobos-Grunt, here.