Phobos-Grunt Launches To Retrieve a Sample of Phobos

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Phobos-Grunt Launches To Retrieve a Sample of Phobos

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday November 8, 2011 @07:08PM from the go-get-'em dept.

An anonymous reader writes with news that Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft has launched, taking the first step on its mission to travel to Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons. When (and if — see below) it lands on Phobos, the probe will collect a soil sample and attempt to return it to Earth. "Russia’s Federal Space Agency said the craft separated successfully from the booster about 11 minutes later. ... The return vehicle is expected to carry up to 200 grams (7 ounces) of soil from Phobos back to Earth in August 2014. The $170 million endeavor would be Russia’s first interplanetary mission since Soviet times. A previous 1996 robotic mission to Mars ended in failure when the probe crashed in the Pacific following an engine failure." Unfortunately, there appears to have been a problem with the launch. Details are uncertain at this point, but the probe reportedly made it to orbit intact, and the mission is not necessarily ruined.

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Please... by jd · 2011-11-08 19:36 · Score: 1

...don't say the programming is wrong and it'll now take a chunk out of the Earth and fly it to Phobos!

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1. Re:Please... by DZign · 2011-11-08 19:58 · Score: 2
  
  I'm only interested in the results of this mission when they find samples of leather godesses :-)
  
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2. Re:Please... by tigersha · 2011-11-08 20:14 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks for the good memories man.
  Roger Wilco Lives!
  
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  The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
3. Re:Please... by psergiu · 2011-11-09 00:14 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  The Council of Elders has declared a planet-wide celebration in the light of the latest victory of our special forces team.
  K'breel, speaker for the Council, declared:
  
  Oh, what a joyous day, our special forces, from their forward base in orbit around the Evil Blue Planet has scored another victory against the enemy. Their plan of sending a mechanized invader on our holly moon Z'treem was foiled - eight of our best warriors have sacrificed themselves and blocked the invader's reactive engine with their bodies, drowning the mechanized monster in their own ichor. Let's forever praise the courage of our warriors.
  
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4. Re:Please... by Zaphod-AVA · 2011-11-09 02:27 · Score: 1
  
  Lewd mode on.
5. Re:Please... by TheDarkMaster · 2011-11-11 08:40 · Score: 1
  
  LOL!
  
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Obligatory by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2011-11-08 19:38 · Score: 2

...don't say the programming is wrong and it'll now take a chunk out of the Earth and fly it to Phobos!
In Soviet Russia...

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More updates by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2011-11-08 19:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Update 5:09 PST. The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft has not been found in its predicted orbit.
Update 5:45 PST. A Deep Space Network source indicates that the spacecraft is in safe mode, and the engine burn was never performed. The spacecraft could be reset, and the mission might be recoverable. Stay tuned.
Update 7:13 PST. Vladimir Putin has announced he will be going into orbit to save the mission. He plans to pilot his craft as close to the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft as possible. He will then exit the craft (EVA), remove his shirt and throw Phobos-Grunt to Mars.

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1. Re:More updates by sortius_nod · 2011-11-08 20:31 · Score: 1
  
  hahaha, that's awesome.
  A TV show here in Australia has a segment called "WHAT WOULD PUTIN DO?" (show is about advertising), goes over his many exploits doing things such as this (saving whales, saving babies, saving baby whales, whatever).
  Good show old chap, if I had mod points, you'd have them.
2. Re:More updates by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-08 22:58 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  Update 12:00 PST. Vladimir Putin reports that "The cacodemons aren't so difficult".
3. Re:More updates by captainClassLoader · 2011-11-09 04:22 · Score: 1
  
  FYI, for those who don't know the language: "Vladimir Putin" is Russian for "Chuck Norris".
  
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Russia still hasn't learned ... by MacTO · 2011-11-08 20:11 · Score: 2

Mars is for Amerika. Venus is for Russia.
Seriously. Look at where each nation has had its successes and failures.
$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by tigersha · 2011-11-08 20:16 · Score: 2

That must be the singulary most expensive stuff on the planet!

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1. Re:$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-08 20:28 · Score: 1
  
  I get 170000000/200 = 850000. Did you mistype 200 as 144.5 ?
2. Re:$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-09 00:01 · Score: 1
  
  He included the import tax.
3. Re:$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by AmiMoJo · 2011-11-09 00:59 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  $170m is actually pretty cheap for this sort of thing. Russia has always been good at making cheap but generally reliable space hardware. On paper it may seem like they have more failures than NASA or the ESA, but that is because they spend less time testing on the ground and more time testing in space. Even when things go wrong the overall cost is usually lower and development more rapid.
  
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4. Re:$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-09 01:58 · Score: 1
  
  Ahem...since when have they had a successfull Mars mission? Since, like, forever....
5. Re:$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by guruevi · 2011-11-09 02:29 · Score: 1
  
  Don't worry, HP ink cartridges are more expensive I think.
  
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6. Re:$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by CraftyJack · 2011-11-09 02:58 · Score: 1
  
  On paper it may seem like they have more failures than NASA or the ESA
  When things don't work, it's a failure. Doesn't matter how much you did or didn't spend. There's no "on paper" involved. ($170M is really cheap, though.)
  
  they spend less time testing on the ground and more time testing in space.
  Testing after launch isn't called "testing" anymore. It's called "really hoping things go well on this crap shoot" followed by "failure". That's why this stuff is expensive, by the way: You either do it right, or you get nothing. Well, maybe you get a fireball or a crater, but you don't get any science.
7. Re:$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by Convector · 2011-11-09 03:51 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, you can get science out of making a crater. Deep Impact and LCROSS performed admirably. Of course it helped that we planned for those to impact.
8. Re:$1176470.58 for a gram of Phobos Dust by Confusador · 2011-11-09 05:58 · Score: 1
  
  That must be the singulary most expensive stuff on the planet!
  I see what you did there.
Failed to leave Earth orbit by xebecv · 2011-11-08 20:16 · Score: 1

According to the latest news. Also failed to find the Sun, and there are three days of battery power left before it's dead. BTW grunt means soil in Russian
Mission failed by ygslash · 2011-11-08 20:18 · Score: 1

Due to an engine problem, the mission failed. Too bad.
1. Re:Mission failed by randuev · 2011-11-08 20:35 · Score: 1
  
  it is yet unknown whether it is an engine problem or software glitch. if it's the latter, they will attempt to upload an updated version and send it off. main engine hasn't fired, so they still have fuel. however, they have only three days to find out the problem with software, batteries won't last for much longer.
Re:7 oz of material returned by ZankerH · 2011-11-08 20:24 · Score: 4, Informative

there isn't that much additional fuel involved in bumping the payload up from a single serving soda to a family size 12 pack, is there?
For a retun trip to mars, the mass ratio is around 100 parts fuel for 1 part sample return. It scales pretty linearly. It doesn't matter that it spends most time coasting, you have to accelerate it to the same delta-v regardless of the mass.
Everyone knows by nounderscores · 2011-11-08 20:45 · Score: 4, Funny

The only way to reliably get from earth to phobos is teleporting via hell.
1. Re:Everyone knows by TheCarp · 2011-11-09 01:38 · Score: 1
  
  When I read the story title I was sure that it was a description of the backstory of a new Doom title. I must admit, bit of a dissappointment. Not even a double barrel shotty
  
  --
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It might be for the best that it failed... by Trilkin · 2011-11-08 21:55 · Score: 2

First they send probes... then they make a colony researching interdimensional transport... This never works out.

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Recharge batteries with laser by value · 2011-11-08 22:33 · Score: 2

I wonder if it might be possible to point a laser at the craft's solar panels to recharge its batteries? That is if it has opened its solar panels and they are pointing towards Earth at least some of the time?
1. Re:Recharge batteries with laser by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-08 23:44 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I suspect that if the panels have deployed and point at the earth, lack of power will be the least of their concerns. I base this on my experience from having a solar panel on my sailboat, which probably is several orders of magnitude cheaper and less efficient, but still generates 20-30 % of its maximum amps during cloudy days and when the sail and mast is blocking the sun. The light reflected from the earth must be enough to give them the power needed to salvage the spacecraft, if it can be done at all.
Re:Grunt by Joce640k · 2011-11-08 22:59 · Score: 1

I wonder how many NASA program names are rude words in Russian...

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Re:Grunt by mapkinase · 2011-11-09 00:00 · Score: 1

Actually, it's Russian for "soil", comes from German "grund"

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Re:more crap by WillDraven · 2011-11-09 00:40 · Score: 4, Informative

Since we all know they literally burn the money for fuel in the rockets. It doesn't get spent on the components and then keep circulating in the economy or anything. Nope, burned to a cinder, never to be spent again... -sigh-

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foxnews.com -> Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-09 00:51 · Score: 4, Informative

Yeah... ./ shows me that it links to FOX "News". Sorry mate. Ain't gonna fall for that. It's like the Goatse of news. If you like what you see, sonething is wrong with you. ;)
Re:Grunt by JustOK · 2011-11-09 01:10 · Score: 2

you're making it sound dirty. Please, continue.

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Re:more crap by GameboyRMH · 2011-11-09 01:58 · Score: 3, Funny

Didn't people the money here instead of orbiting earth?
No, they accidentally the whole thing.

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Re:more crap by dotancohen · 2011-11-09 03:21 · Score: 2

Didn't people the money here instead of orbiting earth?
It seems that your people a verb.

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Re:more crap by dotancohen · 2011-11-09 03:22 · Score: 1

Since we all know they literally burn the money for fuel in the rockets. It doesn't get spent on the components and then keep circulating in the economy or anything. Nope, burned to a cinder, never to be spent again... -sigh-
...which would take that money out of circulation and make the remaining money more valuable. That actually makes strong economic sense.

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Re:foxnews.com - Goodbye by ColdWetDog · 2011-11-09 04:03 · Score: 1

Presumably you feel the same way about CNN, BBC, Reuters, the API, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, the NYT, Scientific American, and pretty much every single "news" blog connected to the internet? No? Then you're a big ol' hypocrite.
Oh no. Yep, they all have issues and nope, Fox comes to school on a very, very short bus.

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Sounds like... by slapout · 2011-11-09 06:37 · Score: 1

This sounds like the beginning of a bad scifi movie. You know, like the ones they used to show on that SyFy channel, until they started showing wrestling instead.

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Actually, the Russian press release translates to: by D4C5CE · 2011-11-09 06:43 · Score: 1

Something's coming out of the transporters...
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but... by Sabathius · 2011-11-09 09:07 · Score: 1

The last time we sent something to Phobos and Demos to try and scan them...it was mysteriously destroyed. The last image showed a strange saucer-shaped shadow, if I remember correctly.
Quake 3 by rapidreload · 2011-11-09 12:33 · Score: 1

Am I the only one who read the words Phobos and Grunt like the announcer in Quake 3 when bots are joining a game?

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What they're *really* curious about by bobvious · 2011-11-10 04:56 · Score: 1

I can't help but believe that the real reason they're going to Phobos is to take a look at that "monument".