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85-451: Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt (Russian: Фобос-Грунт , where грунт refers to 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 . Fobos-Grunt also carried the Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 and the tiny Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment funded by

170-489: A U.S. radar stationed on the Marshall Islands may have inadvertently disabled the probe, but cited no evidence. Popovkin suggested the microchips may have been counterfeit, then he announced on 1 February 2012 that a burst of cosmic radiation may have caused computers to reboot and go into a standby mode. Industry experts cast doubt on the claim citing how unlikely the effects of such a burst are in low Earth orbit, inside

255-494: A back-up soil extraction device. The spacecraft arrived at Baikonur Cosmodrome on 17 October 2011 and was transported to Site 31 for pre-launch processing. The Zenit-2SB41 launch vehicle carrying Fobos-Grunt successfully lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 20:16 UTC on 8 November 2011. The Zenit booster inserted the spacecraft into an initial 207 km × 347 km (129 mi × 216 mi) elliptical low Earth orbit with an inclination of 51.4°. Two firings of

340-438: A better understanding of the problem with the spacecraft, saying they reached the conclusion that they have some kind of power problem on board. ESA failed to communicate with the space probe in all of the five opportunities the agency had between 28 and 29 November 2011. During those occasions, the spacecraft did not comply with orders to fire the engines and raise its orbit. The Russian space agency then requested that ESA repeat

425-427: A chamber that would heat it and analyze its emission spectra . This analysis might have been able to determine the presence of volatile compounds, such as water. The return stage was mounted on top of the lander. It would have needed to accelerate to 35 km/h (22 mph) to escape Phobos' gravity. In order to avoid harming the experiments remaining at the lander, the return stage would have ignited its engine once

510-453: A deposit of complex compounds such as loose material and rocks. These samples may be obtained in a number of ways, such as soil and rock excavation or a collector array used for capturing particles of solar wind or cometary debris. Nonetheless, concerns have been raised that the return of such samples to planet Earth may endanger Earth itself. To date, samples of Moon rock from Earth's Moon have been collected by robotic and crewed missions;

595-558: A launch approximately in 2024. In August 2015, the ESA - Roscosmos working group on post- ExoMars cooperation, completed a joint study for a possible future Phobos sample return mission, preliminary discussions were held, and in May 2015 the Russian Academy of Sciences submitted a budget proposal. As of September 2023, Roscosmos intended to launch Boomerang "after 2030". Boomerang is intended to be

680-525: A pair of regolith samples. On 22 November 2023, NASA announced that it was cutting back on the Mars sample-return mission due to a shortage of funds. In January 2024, the proposed NASA plan was challenged due to budget and scheduling considerations, and investigation into alternate plans begun. Russia has plans for Luna-Glob missions to return samples from the Moon by 2027 and Mars-Grunt to return samples from Mars in

765-606: A radiation measurement experiment on Fobos-Grunt. Two MetNet Mars landers developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute , were planned to be included as payload of the Fobos-Grunt mission, but weight constraints on the spacecraft required dropping the MetNet landers from the mission. The October 2009 launch date could not be achieved due to delays in the spacecraft development. During 2009, officials admitted that

850-418: A rendezvous with (and a landing on) S-type asteroid 25143 Itokawa . In November 2010, scientists at the agency confirmed that, despite failure of the sampling device, the probe retrieved micrograms of dust from the asteroid, the first brought back to Earth in pristine condition. The Russian Fobos-Grunt was a failed sample-return mission designed to return samples from Phobos , one of the moons of Mars. It

935-679: A spacecraft can carry only a limited set of analytic tools, and these have to be chosen and built long before launch. Samples analyzed on Earth can be matched against findings of remote sensing for more insight into the processes that formed the Solar System . This was done, for example, with findings by the Dawn spacecraft , which visited the asteroid Vesta from 2011 to 2012 for imaging, and samples from HED meteorites (collected on Earth until then), which were compared to data gathered by Dawn. These meteorites could then be identified as material ejected from

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1020-436: A special importance: it is comparatively "nearby", might have harbored life in the past, and might even continue to sustain life. Jupiter's moon Europa is another important focus in the search for life in the Solar System. However, due to the distance and other constraints, Europa might not be the target of a sample-return mission in the foreseeable future. Planetary protection aims to prevent biological contamination of both

1105-704: A whole returned over 382 kg (842 lb) of lunar rocks and regolith , including lunar soil , to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston . Today, 75% of the samples are stored at the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility built in 1979. In 1970, the robotic Soviet mission Luna 16 returned 101 grams (3.6 oz) of lunar soil, followed by Luna 20 's return of 55 grams (1.9 oz) in 1974, and Luna 24 's return of 170 grams (6.0 oz) in 1976. Although they recovered far less than

1190-745: Is a difficult feat that requires that everything from launch to landing to retrieval and launch back to Earth is planned out with high precision and accuracy. This type of sample return, although having the most risks, is the most rewarding for planetary science. Furthermore, such missions carry a great deal of public outreach potential, which is an important attribute for space exploration when it comes to public support. The only successful robotic sample-return missions of this type have been Soviet Luna and Chinese Chang'e landers. While other missions collected materials from asteroids by various means, they did so without "landing", given their very low gravity. Russian Space Research Institute The institute

1275-687: Is located in Moscow with a staff of 289 scientists . It conducts scientific research in the fields of astrophysics , planetary science , solar physics , Sun - Earth relations, cosmic plasma , and geophysics . IKI also develops and tests space technologies in collaboration with the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Federal Space Agency . It was founded on May 15, 1965, by the Soviet Union's Council of Ministers decree #392-147. Initially,

1360-421: Is retracted into its capsule for safe storage and delivery back to Earth. Aerogel is quite strong and easily survives both launching and space environments. Some of the riskiest and most difficult types of sample-return missions are those that require landing on an extraterrestrial body such as an asteroid, moon, or planet. It takes a great deal of time, money, and technical ability to even initiate such plans. It

1445-466: The Apollo crater basin in the southern hemisphere of the lunar far side, was the first to retrieve samples from the far side of the Moon , as all previous collective lunar samples having been collected from the near side . CNSA is planning a mission called Tianwen-2 to return samples from 469219 Kamoʻoalewa which is planned to launch in 2025. CNSA plans for a Mars sample return mission by 2030. Also,

1530-575: The Chinese Space Agency is designing a sample-retrieval mission from Ceres that would take place during the 2020s. JAXA is developing the MMX mission, a sample-return mission to Phobos that will be launched in 2026. MMX will study both moons of Mars , but the landing and the sample collection will be on Phobos. This selection was made because of the two moons, Phobos's orbit is closer to Mars and its surface may have particles blasted from Mars. Thus

1615-736: The European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt , Germany, would have controlled the probe. Communications with the spacecraft on the initial parking orbit are described in a two-volume publication. Barry E. DiGregorio, Director of the International Committee Against Mars Sample Return (ICAMSR), criticised the LIFE experiment carried by Fobos-Grunt as a violation of the Outer Space Treaty due to

1700-583: The Genesis capsule failed to open its parachute while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and crash-landed in the Utah desert. There were fears of severe contamination or even total mission loss, but scientists managed to save many of the samples. They were the first to be collected from beyond lunar orbit. Genesis used a collector array made of wafers of ultra-pure silicon , gold , sapphire , and diamond . Each different wafer

1785-599: The Planetary Society . It was launched on 8 November 2011, at 20:16 UTC , from the Baikonur Cosmodrome , but subsequent rocket burns intended to set the craft on a course for Mars failed, leaving it stranded in low Earth orbit . Efforts to reactivate the craft were unsuccessful, and it fell back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry on 15 January 2012, over the Pacific Ocean , west of Chile . The return vehicle

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1870-537: The Russian Space Research Institute , where Alexander Zakharov served as lead scientist of the mission. The Chinese Yinghuo-1 orbiter was launched together with Fobos-Grunt. In late 2012, after a 10–11.5-month cruise, Yinghuo-1 would have separated and entered an 800 × 80,000 km equatorial orbit (5° inclination) with a period of three days. The spacecraft was expected to remain on Martian orbit for one year. Yinghuo-1 would have focused mainly on

1955-742: The 1970s that we should do sample-return missions classified as category V missions with extreme caution, and later studies by the NRC and ESF agreed. In July 1969, Apollo 11 achieved the first successful sample return from another Solar System body when it returned 22 kilograms (49 lb) of Lunar surface material. This was followed by 34 kilograms (75 lb) of material and Surveyor 3 parts from Apollo 12 , 42.8 kilograms (94 lb) of material from Apollo 14 , 76.7 kilograms (169 lb) of material from Apollo 15 , 94.3 kilograms (208 lb) of material from Apollo 16 , and 110.4 kilograms (243 lb) of material from Apollo 17 . The Apollo program as

2040-721: The Apollo missions, they did this fully automatically. Apart from these three successes, other attempts under the Luna programme failed. The first two missions were intended to compete with Apollo 11 and were undertaken shortly before it in June and July 1969. Luna E-8-5 No. 402 failed at start, and Luna 15 crashed on the Moon. Later, other sample-return missions failed: Kosmos 300 and Kosmos 305 in 1969, Luna E-8-5 No. 405 in 1970, Luna E-8-5M No. 412 in 1975 had unsuccessful launches, and Luna 18 in 1971 and Luna 23 in 1974 had unsuccessful landings on

2125-635: The Fobos-Grunt mission, if an agreement was not reached for Russian co-operation in the European Space Agency 's ExoMars program. However, since an agreement was reached for the inclusion of Russia as a full project partner, some instruments originally developed for Fobos-Grunt were flown in the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter . On 2 August 2014, the Russian Academy of Sciences stated that the Phobos-Grunt repeat mission might be restarted for

2210-517: The Moon. In 1970, the Soviet Union planned for a 1975 first Mars sample-return mission in the Mars 5NM project. This mission was planned to use an N1 rocket , but this rocket never flew successfully and the mission evolved into the Mars 5M project, which would use a double launch with the smaller Proton rocket and an assembly at a Salyut space station. This Mars 5M mission was planned for 1979, but

2295-523: The Russian space program. This changed in the summer of 2005, when the new government plan for space activities in 2006–2015 was published. Fobos-Grunt was now made one of the program's flagship missions. With substantially improved funding, the launch date was set for October 2009. The 2004 design was revised a couple of times and international partners were invited to join the project. In June 2006, NPO Lavochkin announced that it had begun manufacturing and testing

2380-448: The Solar System is technically easier than a sample-return mission, the scientific tools available on Earth to study such samples are far more advanced and diverse than those that can go on spacecraft. Further, analysis of samples on Earth allows follow up of any findings with different tools, including tools that can tell intrinsic extraterrestrial material from terrestrial contamination, and those that have yet to be developed; in contrast,

2465-479: The Sun through the solar wind, but can also be used for collection of larger particles such as those found in the coma of a comet. The NASA spacecraft known as Stardust implemented this technique. However, due to the high speeds and size of the particles that make up the coma and the area nearby, a dense solid-state collector array was not viable. As a result, another means for collecting samples had to be designed to preserve

2550-472: The aerogel is mostly transparent, and the particles leave a carrot-shaped path once they penetrate the surface, scientists can easily find and retrieve them. Since its pores are on the nanometer scale, particles, even ones smaller than a grain of sand, do not merely pass through the aerogel completely. Instead, they slow to a stop and then are embedded within it. The Stardust spacecraft has a tennis-racket-shaped collector with aerogel fitted to it. The collector

2635-516: The asteroid for a year and a half and took samples. It left the asteroid in November 2019 and returned to Earth on 6 December 2020. The OSIRIS-REx mission was launched in September 2016 on a mission to return samples from the asteroid 101955 Bennu . The samples are expected to enable scientists to learn more about the time before the birth of the Solar System, initial stages of planet formation, and

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2720-468: The asteroid sample contents. On 13 December 2023, further studies of the returned sample were reported and revealed organic molecules as well as unknown materials which require more study to have a better idea of their composition and makeup. On 13 January 2024, NASA reported finally fully opening, after three months of trying, the recovered container with samples from the Bennu asteroid. The total weight of

2805-473: The case of communications breakdown, which enabled the lander to automatically launch the return rocket to deliver the samples to Earth. A robotic arm would have collected samples up to 1.3 cm (0.51 in) in diameter. At the end of the arm was a pipe-shaped tool which split to form a claw. The tool contained a piston which would have pushed the sample into a cylindrical container. A light-sensitive photo-diode would have confirmed whether material collection

2890-403: The comet Wild 2 and the asteroids 25143 Itokawa , 162173 Ryugu , and 101955 Bennu have been visited by robotic spacecraft which returned samples to Earth; and samples of the solar wind have been returned by the robotic Genesis mission. In addition to sample-return missions, samples from three identified non-terrestrial bodies have been collected by other means: samples from the Moon in

2975-560: The communications link would have been sufficient to command the spacecraft to switch on its engines to take it on its intended trajectory toward Mars. Roscosmos officials said that the window of opportunity to salvage Fobos-Grunt would close in early December 2011. The next day, on 23 November 2011, the Perth station again made contact with the spacecraft and during 6 minutes, about 400 telemetry "frames" and Doppler information were received. The amount of information received during this communication

3060-819: The conical descent vehicle would perform a hard landing without a parachute within the Sary Shagan test range in Kazakhstan . The vehicle did not have any radio equipment. Ground-based radar and optical observations would have been used to track the vehicle's return. The mission control center was located at the Center for Deep Space Communications ( Национальный центр управления и испытаний космических средств (in Russian) , equipped with RT-70 radio telescope near Yevpatoria in Crimea . Russia and Ukraine agreed in late October 2010 that

3145-559: The density of glass. This enables the collection of cometary particles without damaging them due to high impact velocities. Particle collisions with even slightly porous solid collectors would result in the destruction of those particles and damage to the collection apparatus. During the cruise, the array collected at least seven interstellar dust particles. In June 2010 the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa probe returned asteroid samples to Earth after

3230-418: The development version of the spacecraft's onboard equipment. On 26 March 2007, Russia and China signed a cooperative agreement on the joint exploration of Mars, which included sending China's first interplanetary probe, Yinghuo-1 , to Mars together with the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft. Yinghuo-1 weighed 115 kg (254 lb) and would have been released by the main spacecraft into a Mars orbit. NPO Lavochkin

3315-481: The entire spacecraft and most of the instruments were new, though the designs drew upon the nation's legacy of three successful Luna missions , which in the 1970s retrieved a few hundred grams of Moon rocks. Zakharov had described the Phobos sample return project as "possibly the most difficult interplanetary one to date". The Fobos-Grunt project began in 1999, when the Russian Space Research Institute and NPO Lavochkin ,

3400-628: The first stage of the Russian Mars sample return mission called Mars-Grunt . This Mars sample-return mission would be developed from the technologies demonstrated by Fobos-Grunt-2. Fobos-Grunt was an intended interplanetary probe that included a lander to study Phobos and a sample return vehicle to return a sample of about 200 g (7.1 oz) of soil to Earth . It was also to study Mars from orbit, including its atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation. The spacecraft's journey to Mars would take about ten months. After arriving in Mars orbit,

3485-667: The form of Lunar meteorites , samples from Mars in the form of Martian meteorites , and samples from Vesta in the form of HED meteorites . Samples available on Earth can be analyzed in laboratories , so we can further our understanding and knowledge as part of the discovery and exploration of the Solar System . Until now, many important scientific discoveries about the Solar System were made remotely with telescopes , and some Solar System bodies were visited by orbiting or even landing spacecraft with instruments capable of remote sensing or sample analysis. While such an investigation of

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3570-428: The future, to match their compositions with the data gathered through telescopes and astronomical spectroscopy . One further focus of such investigation—besides the basic composition and geologic history of the various Solar System bodies—is the presence of the building blocks of life on comets, asteroids, Mars or the moons of the gas giants . Several sample-return missions to asteroids and comets are currently in

3655-602: The hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide "could freeze before ultimately entering", thus contaminating the impact area. He also stated that if Fobos-Grunt were not salvaged, it may be the most dangerous object to fall from orbit. Meanwhile, the head of Roscosmos said the probability of parts reaching the Earth surface was "highly unlikely" and that the spacecraft, including the LIFE module and the Yinghuo-1 orbiter, would be destroyed during re-entry. Russian military sources claimed that Fobos-Grunt

3740-450: The institute formed its staff by drawing scientists from other research organizations. With time, it grew to two thousand employees, including those in a few branches located elsewhere in the country. In 1992, a year after the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was rechristened with its present name. The institute engages in research in the following areas: Additionally, IKI's scientists belong to various international collaborations on

3825-462: The internal NPO Lavochkin team responsible for integration and software development fell behind schedule. The retirement of NPO Lavochkin's head Valeriy N. Poletskiy in January 2010 was widely seen as linked to the delay of Fobos-Grunt. Viktor Khartov was appointed the new head of the company. During the extra development time resulting from the delay, a Polish -built drill was added to the Phobos lander as

3910-447: The lander included another soil-extraction device, a Polish-built drill, which would have been used in case the soil turned out to be too rocky for the main scooping device. After the departure of the return stage, the lander's experiments would have continued in situ on Phobos' surface for a year. To conserve power, mission control would have turned these on and off in a precise sequence. The robotic arm would have placed more samples in

3995-413: The large impact crater Rheasilvia on Vesta. This allowed deducing the composition of the crust, mantle and core of Vesta. Similarly, some differences in the composition of asteroids (and, to a lesser extent, different compositions of comets ) can be discerned by imaging alone. However, for a more precise inventory of the material on these different bodies, more samples will be collected and returned in

4080-594: The late 2020s. Sample-return methods include, but are not restricted to the following: A collector array may be used to collect millions or billions of atoms, molecules, and fine particulates by using wafers made of different elements. The molecular structure of these wafers allows the collection of various sizes of particles. Collector arrays, such as those flown on Genesis , are ultra-pure in order to ensure maximal collection efficiency, durability, and analytical distinguishability. Collector arrays are useful for collecting tiny, fast-moving atoms such as those expelled by

4165-480: The main developer of Soviet and Russian interplanetary probes, initiated a 9 million rouble feasibility study into a Phobos sample-return mission. The initial spacecraft design was to be similar to the probes of the Phobos program launched in the late 1980s. Development of the spacecraft started in 2001 and the preliminary design was completed in 2004. For years, the project stalled as a result of low levels of financing of

4250-420: The main propulsion unit and the transfer truss would separate and the Chinese Mars orbiter would be released. Fobos-Grunt would then spend several months studying the planet and its moons from orbit, before landing on Phobos . It was imperative to prevent the introduction to Mars of contaminants from Earth; according to Fobos-Grunt Chief Designer Maksim Martynov , the probability of the probe accidentally reaching

4335-434: The main propulsion unit in Earth orbit were required to send the spacecraft onto the interplanetary trajectory. Since both engine ignitions would have taken place outside the range of Russian ground stations, the project participants asked volunteers around the world to take optical observations of the burns, e.g. with telescopes, and report the results to enable more accurate prediction of the mission flight path upon entry into

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4420-491: The orders. The European Space Agency decided to end the efforts to contact the probe on 2 December 2011, with one analyst saying that Fobos-Grunt appeared "dead in the water". However, ESA made teams available to assist the Fobos-Grunt mission if there was a change in situation. In spite of that, Roscosmos stated its intention to continue to try to contact the space vehicle until it entered the atmosphere. The U.S. Strategic Command 's Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) tracked

4505-502: The partially successful Phobos 2 in 1988–1989. Fobos-Grunt was designed to become the first spacecraft to return a macroscopic sample from an extraterrestrial body since Luna 24 in 1976. The cost of the project was 1.5 billion rubles (US$ 64.4 million). Project funding for the timeframe 2009–2012, including post-launch operations, was about 2.4 billion rubles. The total cost of the mission was to have been 5 billion rubles (US$ 163 million). According to lead scientist Alexander Zakharov ,

4590-461: The planned end of the first burn, the spacecraft could not be located in the target orbit. The spacecraft was subsequently discovered to still be in its initial parking orbit and it was determined that the burn had not taken place. Initially, engineers had about three days from launch to rescue the spacecraft before its batteries ran out. It was then established that the craft's solar panels had deployed, giving engineers more time to restore control. It

4675-475: The possibility of contamination of Phobos or Mars with the microbial spores and live bacteria it contains should it have lost control and crash-landed on either body. It is speculated that the heat-resistant extremophile bacteria could survive such a crash, on the basis that Microbispora bacteria survived the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster . According to Fobos-Grunt Chief Designer Maksim Martynov ,

4760-639: The probability of the probe accidentally reaching the surface of Mars was much lower than the maximum specified for Category III missions, the type assigned to Fobos-Grunt and defined in COSPAR 's planetary protection policy (in accordance with Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty). Sample return mission A sample-return mission is a spacecraft mission to collect and return samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample-return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or

4845-587: The probe and identified at the start of December 2011 that Fobos-Grunt had an elliptical Earth orbit at an altitude of between 209 km (130 mi) and 305 km (190 mi), but falling a few kilometers each day. Before reentry, the spacecraft still carried about 7.51 tonnes of highly toxic hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide on board. This was mostly fuel for the spacecraft's upper stage. These compounds, with melting points of 2 °C and −11.2 °C, are normally kept in liquid form and were expected to burn out during re-entry. NASA veteran James Oberg said

4930-462: The probe the command to turn on one of its transmitters. The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt , Germany , reported that the contact was made at 20:25 UTC on 22 November 2011 after some modifications had been made to the 15 metres (49 ft) dish facility in Perth to improve its chances of getting a signal. No telemetry was received in this communication. It remained unclear whether

5015-463: The probe's radio equipment was working and that it was communicating with the spacecraft's flight control systems. Moreover, Roscosmos's top officials believed Fobos-Grunt to be functional, stably oriented and charging batteries through its solar panels. In a late November 2011 interview, the service manager of the European Space Agency for Fobos-Grunt, Wolfgang Hell, stated that Roscosmos had

5100-485: The propulsion unit was expected to be jettisoned, with ignition for a second burn to depart Earth orbit scheduled for one orbit, or 2.1 hours, after the end of the first burn. The propulsion module constitutes the cruise-stage bus of Fobos-Grunt. According to original plans, Mars orbit arrival had been expected during September 2012 and the return vehicle was scheduled to reach Earth in August 2014. Following what would have been

5185-400: The protection of Earth's magnetic field . On 6 February 2012, the commission investigating the mishap concluded that Fobos-Grunt mission failed because of "a programming error which led to a simultaneous reboot of two working channels of an onboard computer". The craft's rocket pack never fired due to the computer reboot, leaving the craft stranded in Earth orbit. Although the specific failure

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5270-458: The range of Russian ground stations. It was expected that after 2.5 hours and 1.7 revolutions in the initial orbit, the autonomous main propulsion unit (MDU), derived from the Fregat upper stage , would conduct its firing to insert the spacecraft into the elliptical orbit (250 km x 4150–4170 km) with a period of about 2.2 hours. After the completion of the first burn, the external fuel tank of

5355-485: The recovered material weighed 121.6 g (4.29 oz), over twice the mission's goal. China's CNSA launched the Chang'e 5 and 6 lunar sample-return mission on 23 November 2020 and 3 May 2024 respectively, which returned to Earth with 2 kilograms of lunar soil each on 16 December 2020 and 25 June 2024 respectively. These were the first lunar sample-return missions in over 40 years. The Chang'e 6 mission, which landed in

5440-547: The safety of the spacecraft and the samples themselves. Aerogel is a silica -based porous solid with a sponge-like structure, 99.8% of whose volume is empty space. Aerogel has about 1/1000 of the density of glass. An aerogel was used in the Stardust spacecraft because the dust particles the spacecraft was to collect would have an impact speed of about 6 km/s. A collision with a dense solid at that speed could alter their chemical composition or vaporize them completely. Since

5525-572: The sample container was retrieved and transferred to an "airtight chamber at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas", the lid on the container was opened. Scientists commented that they "found black dust and debris on the avionics deck of the OSIRIS-REx science canister" on the initial opening. Later study was planned. On 11 October 2023, the recovered capsule was opened to reveal a "first look" at

5610-449: The sample may contain material originating on Mars itself. A propulsion module carrying the sample is expected to return to Earth in 2031. NASA and ESA have long planned a Mars Sample-Return Mission . The Perseverance rover , deployed in 2020, is collecting drill core samples and stashing them on the Mars surface. As of September 2023, it has gathered one atmospheric sample and 8 igneous rock samples, 11 sedimentary rock samples and

5695-455: The schedule was very tight, but still hoped until the last moment that a launch could be made. On 21 September 2009, the mission was officially announced to be delayed until the next launch window in 2011. A main reason for the delay was difficulties encountered during development of the spacecraft's onboard computers. While the Moscow-based company Tehkhom provided the computer hardware on time,

5780-462: The source of organic compounds that led to the formation of life. It reached the proximity of Bennu on 3 December 2018, where it began analyzing its surface for a target sample area over the next several months. It collected its sample on 20 October 2020, and landed back on Earth again on 24 September 2023, making OSIRIS-REx the fifth successful sample return mission for mankind, in its return of samples from an extra-terrestrial body. Shortly after

5865-591: The study of the external environment of Mars. Space center researchers expected to use photographs and data to study the magnetic field of Mars and the interaction between ionospheres , escape particles and solar wind . A second Chinese payload, the Soil Offloading and Preparation System (SOPSYS), was integrated in the lander. SOPSYS was a microgravity grinding tool developed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University . Another payload on Fobos-Grunt

5950-472: The surface of Mars was much lower than the maximum specified for Category III missions, the type assigned to Fobos-Grunt and defined in COSPAR 's planetary protection policy (in accordance with Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty). The planned landing site at Phobos was a region from 5°S to 5°N, 230° to 235°E. Soil sample collection would begin immediately after the lander touched down on Phobos, with collection lasting 2–7 days. An emergency mode existed for

6035-506: The target celestial body and the Earth in the case of sample-return missions. A sample return from Mars or other location with the potential to host life is a category V mission under COSPAR , which directs to the containment of any unsterilized sample returned to Earth. This is because it is unknown what the effects such hypothetical life would be on humans or the biosphere of Earth. For this reason, Carl Sagan and Joshua Lederberg argued in

6120-419: The vehicle had been vaulted to a safe height by springs. It would then have begun maneuvers for the eventual trip to Earth, where it would have arrived in August 2014. An 11-kg descent vehicle containing the capsule with soil samples (up to 0.2 kg (0.44 lb)) would have been released on direct approach to Earth at 12 km/s (7.5 mi/s). Following the aerodynamic braking to 30 m/s (98 ft/s)

6205-437: The works. More samples from asteroids and comets will help determine whether life formed in space and was carried to Earth by meteorites. Another question under investigation is whether extraterrestrial life formed on other Solar System bodies like Mars or on the moons of the gas giants , and whether life might even exist there. The result of NASA's last "Decadal Survey" was to prioritize a Mars sample-return mission, as Mars has

6290-480: Was an experiment from the Planetary Society called Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment ; its goal was to test whether selected organisms can survive a few years in deep space by flying them through interplanetary space. The experiment would have tested one aspect of transpermia , the hypothesis that life could survive space travel, if protected inside rocks blasted by impact off one planet to land on another. The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences contributed with

6375-620: Was based on calculations, without witness reports. In contrast, Russian civilian ballistic experts said that the fragments had fallen over a broader patch of Earth's surface, and that the midpoint of the crash zone was located in the Goiás state of Brazil . Initially, the head of Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin , suggested that the Fobos-Grunt failure might have been the result of sabotage by a foreign nation. He also stated that risky technical decisions had been made because of limited funding. On 17 January 2012, an unidentified Russian official speculated that

6460-558: Was canceled in 1977 due to technical problems and complexity. The Orbital Debris Collection (ODC) experiment deployed on the Mir space station for 18 months in 1996–97 used aerogel to capture particles from low Earth orbit, including both interplanetary dust and man-made particles. The next mission to return extraterrestrial samples was the Genesis mission, which returned solar wind samples to Earth from beyond Earth orbit in 2004. Unfortunately,

6545-515: Was identified, experts suggest it was the culmination of poor quality control, lack of testing, security issues and corruption. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev suggested that those responsible should be punished and perhaps criminally prosecuted. In January 2012, scientists and engineers at the Russian Space Research Institute and NPO Lavochkin called for a repeat sample return mission called Fobos-Grunt-2 and Boomerang for launch in 2020. Popovkin declared that they would soon attempt to repeat

6630-400: Was launched on 8 November 2011, but failed to leave Earth orbit and crashed after several weeks into the southern Pacific Ocean. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the improved Hayabusa2 space probe on 3 December 2014. Hayabusa2 arrived at the target near-Earth C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu (previously designated 1999 JU 3 ) on 27 June 2018. It surveyed

6715-514: Was not sufficient, and therefore it was not possible to identify the problem with the probe. Further communication attempts made by ESA were unsuccessful and contact was not reestablished. The space vehicle did not respond to the commands sent by the European Space Agency to raise its orbit. Roscosmos provided these commands to ESA. From Baikonour, Kazakhstan , Roscosmos was able to receive telemetry from Fobos-Grunt on 24 November 2011 but attempts to contact it failed. This telemetry demonstrated that

6800-560: Was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and South America when it re-entered the atmosphere at about 17:45 UTC. Although it was initially feared its remains would reach land as close as 145 kilometres (90 mi) west of Santa Fe , Argentina, the Russian military Air and Space Defense Forces reported that it ultimately fell into the Pacific Ocean, 1,247 km (775 mi) west of Wellington Island , Chile. The Defence Ministry spokesman subsequently revealed that such estimate

6885-453: Was soon discovered the spacecraft was adjusting its orbit, changing its expected re-entry from late November or December 2011 to as late as early 2012. Even though it had not been contacted, the spacecraft seemed to be actively adjusting its perigee (the point it is closest to Earth in its orbit). On 22 November 2011, a signal from the probe was picked up by the European Space Agency's tracking station in Perth , Australia , after it had sent

6970-434: Was successful and also allowed visual inspection of the digging area. The sample extraction device would have performed 15 to 20 scoops yielding a total of 85 to 156 g (3.0 to 5.5 oz) of soil. The samples would be loaded into a capsule which would then be moved inside a special pipeline into the descent module by inflating an elastic bag within the pipe with gas. Because the characteristics of Phobos soil are uncertain,

7055-472: Was the project's main contractor developing its components. The Chief Designer of Fobos-Grunt was Maksim Martynov . Phobos soil sampling and downloading were developed by the GEOHI RAN Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Vernadski Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical chemistry) and the integrated scientific studies of Phobos and Mars by remote and contact methods were the responsibility of

7140-526: Was to have returned to Earth in August 2014, carrying up to 200 g (7.1 oz) of soil from Phobos. Funded by the Russian Federal Space Agency and developed by Lavochkin and the Russian Space Research Institute , Fobos-Grunt was the first Russian-led interplanetary mission since the failed Mars 96 . The last successful interplanetary missions were the Soviet Vega 2 in 1985–1986, and

7225-412: Was used to collect a different part of the solar wind . Genesis was followed by NASA 's Stardust spacecraft, which returned comet samples to Earth on 15 January 2006. It safely passed by Comet Wild 2 and collected dust samples from the comet's coma while imaging the comet's nucleus. Stardust used a collector array made of low-density aerogel (99% of which is space), which has about 1/1000 of

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