Why did Fobos Grunt fail?

But it appears that Phobos-Grunt was doomed before it launched on November 9, 2011. Cheap parts, design shortcomings, and lack of pre-flight testing ensured that the spacecraft would never fulfill its goals.

What probe has studies Phobos?

The Phobos (Russian: Фобос, Fobos, Greek: Φόβος) program was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. Phobos 1 was launched on 7 July 1988, and Phobos 2 on 12 July 1988, each aboard a Proton-K rocket.

What did Phobos 2 do?

Phobos 2 operated nominally throughout its cruise and Mars orbital insertion phases on 29 January 1989, gathering data on the Sun, interplanetary medium, Mars, and Phobos. Phobos 2 investigated Mars surface and atmosphere and returned 37 images of Phobos with a resolution of up to 40 meters.

What does Phobos and Deimos look like?

Phobos and Deimos bear more resemblance to asteroids than to Earth’s moon. Both are tiny — the larger, Phobos, is only 14 miles across (22 kilometers), while the smaller, Deimos, is only 8 miles (13 km), making them some of the smallest moons in the solar system.

What is Phobos made of?

Phobos and Deimos appear to be composed of C-type rock, similar to blackish carbonaceous chondrite asteroids.

What happened Phobos 1?

Its intended mission was to explore Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. The mission failed on 2 September 1988 when a computer malfunction caused the end-of-mission order to be transmitted to the spacecraft.

Is Phobos orbit decaying?

Phobos has an equatorial orbit, which is almost circular. It orbits once every 7 hours 39 minutes just 5989 km above the surface of Mars. Its orbit is decaying by 1.8 cm per year, so it is expected to crash into Mars, or break up to leave a ring of fragments around the planet, within 100 million years.

What does Phobos Grunt stand for?

Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt (Russian: Фобос-Грунт, where грунт supposes the ground in the narrow geological meaning of any type of soil or rock exposed on the surface) was an attempted Russian sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars.

What is the Phobos-Grunt project?

The development of the Phobos-Grunt project started around 1996 with the goal of landing on the surface of the Martian moon Phobos and returning samples of its soil back to Earth. As a bonus, the spacecraft would have many opportunities to study Mars from its orbit.

Were the Phobos-Grunt chips supposedly counterfeit?

^ a b “Phobos-Grunt chips supposedly were counterfeit”. ITAR-TASS News Agency. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012. heavy charged particles of space, which caused malfunction of the memory system during the second circuit in the orbit may have been counterfeit

What are the main components of Phobos-Grunt?

The largest planetary probe built in the former USSR, Phobos-Grunt consisted of three major components: The main cruise stage, PM, (a.k.a. Flagman); Return vehicle, VA, carrying landing capsule (SA) with soil samples from the surface of Phobos back to Earth; Main Propulsion Unit, or MDU,