Post by glactus on Nov 9, 2011 0:35:36 GMT
The Fobos Grunt spacecraft
Fobos-Grunt is a sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. Funded by the Russian space agency Roscosmos and developed by NPO Lavochkin and the Russian Space Research Institute, Fobos-Grunt is to become the first Russian interplanetary mission since the failed Mars 96. It is also set to become the first spacecraft to return a macroscopic extraterrestrial sample from a planetary body since Luna 24 in 1976.
Fobos Grunt in orbit
Launch is scheduled for 8 November 2011 from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars' orbit in September 2012, with landing on Phobos scheduled for February 2013. The return vehicle, carrying up to 200 g of soil from Phobos, is expected to be back on Earth in August 2014.
Space art - Inspecting the Fobos Grunt spacecraft
The Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 will be sent together with the mission, as will the Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment funded by the Planetary Society.
To see high quality 10 minute video of the Fobos Grunt mission just click on the link below. Has sound in Russian
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0cUvK0Dgy8
Credits: These are Russian Space Agency images
Text by wikipedia
Video by YouTube
