A Russian Return to a Martian Moon

Despite the chronic lack of resources, investigators at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, known by its Russian acronym, IKI, have remained committed to Mars. They first proposed Phobos-Grunt in the late 1990s and, with the mission in mind, slowly rebuilt their scientific team, which suffered considerably after the fall of the Soviet Union. ”With the brain drain of the 1990s, we kind of lost a middle generation who would have now been able to transfer their experience to young specialists. It is almost like during the war. We have a generation gap,” says Lev Zelenyi, director of IKI.

In terms of gravity and orbital mechanics, the mission will be easier to pull off than landing a probe on the Red Planet itself. But retrieving soil samples will be tricky. Scientists thought they could repurpose drilling hardware designed for the 1970s Soviet lunar missions. Then they realized that given the gravity on Phobos—which is all but nonexistent—the equipment would likely overturn the spacecraft. Eventually, they settled on the robotic manipulator.

All that remains after the samples are collected is to take off from the surface, escape from orbit around Mars, cruise millions of kilometers through interplanetary space, and survive the plunge into Earth’s atmosphere. As if those things aren’t chancy enough, for its final descent, the return capsule won’t use a parachute. The craft will rely instead on a lining of crushable materials to absorb the impact.

That, at least, is the plan. Although the mission has been in the works for more than a decade, major funding for Phobos-Grunt materialized only two years ago, and equipment development and construction have had to come together quickly. Too quickly, perhaps: In April, people familiar with the project said the launch date would be delayed from October of this year to 2011.

Assuming that happens, Phobos-Grunt won’t be the only Mars mission to suffer setbacks. Recently, two other projects announced delays: NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, the agency’s largest rover yet, and the European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover, designed to search for signs of life.

Meanwhile, Russian researchers are already looking beyond Phobos-Grunt. At NPO Lavochkin, a spacecraft company near Moscow, engineers are trying to reinvent planetary spacecraft. The complex vehicle they have in mind builds on the Phobos-Grunt platform but has improved flight-control and propulsion systems. It also features an upper stage that’s designed to be maneuverable, versatile, and durable.

Such a spacecraft could be used for flights to the moon, Mars, and beyond. One day, it might even land on the ice¿Äëcovered oceans of the Jovian moon Europa. Last year, the Russian government provided IKI with seed money to study such a mission. NASA and ESA also recently backed a mission to Europa, notes IKI’s Zelenyi. ”If everything goes as we conceive it, an international flotilla of spacecraft could be heading to Jupiter,” he says.

For more articles, go to Special Report: Why Mars? Why Now?