Fobos

Mars probe Fobos

Soviet postage stamp

Fobos 1 and Fobos 2 ( Russian Фобос ) were two Soviet space probes from 1988. The probes were supposed to explore the Martian moon Phobos . However, both were lost before reaching their destination.

mission

The aim of the project was to send two probes into orbit around Mars for about a month. After that, both orbiters should head for the Martian moon Phobos, orbit it and drop a landing unit and a "Springer" (only Fobos 2). As a partner, the Soviet Union brought the (at that time still purely Western European) ESA on board, an expression of perestroika under Gorbachev . In addition, an Eastern Bloc state was also involved in the GDR .

According to NASA , the mission objectives of Fobos 1 and Fobos 2 were:

1. Studies of interplanetary space,
2. Solar observations,
3. Investigation of the plasma in the vicinity of Mars,
4. Atmospheric and surface studies of Mars,
5. Investigation of the surface composition of the Martian moon Phobos.

course

Fobos 1

Fobos 1
NSSDC ID	1988-058A
Launcher	Proton-K
construction
Takeoff mass	6220 kg
Course of the mission
Start date	July 7, 1988
launch pad	Baikonur Cosmodrome , Soviet Union
07/12/1988 begin 09/02/1988 Loss of contact

On July 7, 1988 Fobos 1 was mixed with a carrier rocket of the type Proton-K from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launched from, but contact with this probe broke off already on 2 September 1988th

When contacting us, a code was accidentally transmitted a few days earlier, which falsely switched off the control engines. As the solar cells were no longer aligned with the sun, the batteries were exhausted.

Fobos 2

Fobos 2
NSSDC ID	1989-059A
Launcher	Proton-K
construction
Takeoff mass	2600 kg
Course of the mission
Start date	July 12, 1988
launch pad	Baikonur Cosmodrome , Soviet Union
07/12/1988 begin 01/28/1989 Reaching Mars orbit 03/27/1989 Loss of contact

The sister probe Fobos 2 was also launched from Baikonur with a Proton-K on July 12, 1988 and reached a Mars orbit on January 28, 1989. Some data and images from Mars were transmitted to Earth before the probe headed for Phobos. Shortly before the rendezvous , contact was broken on March 27, 1989. What remained were the measurement results and detailed recordings of Phobos collected up to that point.

Fobos 2 was the last planetary space mission of the Soviet Union. Further planned missions were canceled due to the upheaval in the Eastern Bloc after 1989.

See also

• Mars 96
• Fobos-Grunt
• List of space probes

literature

• Sagdeev, RZ, et al .: The Phobos project: Scientific objectives and experimental methods , Sov. Sci. Rev. E. Astrophys. Space Phys., 6, Pt. 1, 1-60, Aug. 1988.
• RJL Grard & RG Marsden: The Phobos Mission: First Results from the Plasma-Wave System and Low-Energy Telescope , ESA Bulletin 56, November 1988, ISSN  0376-4265 , page 81.
• RJL Grard: First Results from ESA's Plasma-Wave System aboard Phobos , ESA-Bulletin 59, August 1989, ISSN  0376-4265 , page 31.

Web links

• Phobos mission on the side of the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (English)
• Phobos 1 + 2
• Fobos 1F in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Phobos 1 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog , accessed on December 23, 2015 (English).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Phobos 2 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog, accessed on December 23, 2015 (English).
3. ↑ Ralph Hartley: Phobos 1 & 2 computer failures. In: SCIENCE Vol 245. SCIENCE, September 8, 1989, p. 1045 , accessed on May 13, 2009 (English).