Russian-Chinese Mars Probe to be Delayed to 2011
Today Russia will formally announce that it is postponing its Phobos-Grunt sample return mission to Mars until 2011 according to Anatoly Zak of RussianSpaceWeb.com. Mr. Zak had previously reported that the announcement was imminent. The mission also includes a Chinese satellite, Yinghuo-1, a Mars orbiter. The Russian spacecraft is designed to return soil (“grunt”) from Mars’ moon Phobos.
SpaceFlightNow.com ran a lengthy story on Sunday anticipating the announcement, with good illustrations of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft.
NASA delayed the launch of its 2009 Mars probe, Mars Science Lander, until 2011 several months ago. Launch opportunities to Mars occur every 26 months. The United States has launched at least one Mars probe at each opportunity since 1996 (though not all were successful). This year therefore will be the first missed Mars opportunity in a over decade, but it means that 2011 should be a bonanza. The last Russian launch to Mars was in 1996. A launch vehicle failure doomed that mission, Mars’96. This will be the first Chinese Mars probe. The United States and Europe currently have spacecraft orbiting or on the surface of Mars.
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