On the night of November 8-9, 2011 (at 00:16:02 Moscow time), one of the most anticipated launches of the “space” year took place. From launcher No. 1 of site No. 45 of the Baikonur cosmodrome, the Zenit-2 launch vehicle was launched with the Russian automatic interplanetary station Phobos-Grunt and the Chinese microsatellite Inho-1 integrated into it.

The launch went smoothly; the first Russian spacecraft in 15 years (!) was delivered to low Earth orbit (perigee - 206.5 km, apogee - 345.2 km). Telemetry data confirmed the disclosure solar panels apparatus and the construction of solar orientation (in this case, the axis of the probe is directed towards the Sun, the solar panels are illuminated and provide current).

At 02:56:43 over Brazil, the first activation of the Phobos-Grunt propulsion system (MPU) was planned, which would allow the formation of an intermediate elliptical orbit with an apogee of 4162 km. Before turning on the MDU, the device had to determine its position in space and, using low-thrust engines, construct the so-called triaxial orientation.

The second activation of the MRL was scheduled for 05:03:44 (over the Pacific Ocean). As a result, on the morning of November 9, Phobos-Grunt was supposed to enter a hyperbolic trajectory of departure from the Earth.

Unfortunately, everything did not go as planned... Already on the third orbit, no signals were received from the expected intermediate orbit.

Adventures begin... and end

At a press conference on the eve of the launch, the head of the NPO named after S.A. Lavochkin Vladimir Hartov said that during the preparation of the Phobos-Grunt mission, much was done for the first time - both on board the station and on Earth. He recalled that in world practice, not a single interplanetary mission has gone without any failures, and predicted: “We can also have many adventures.” These words turned out to be prophetic...

On the morning of November 9 at Baikonur, the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, told reporters that Phobos-Grunt was unable to leave its reference orbit. “The propulsion system did not work - there was neither the first nor the second activation. This suggests that, apparently, he was unable to reorient himself from the Sun to the stellar sensors, and the smart machine did not give the command to turn on...”

“Based on the results of data processing and analysis, the necessary programs and settings for reactivating the main engines will be prepared and put on board,” said a statement from the Roscosmos press secretary, published in the middle of this day. “A refined analysis of the orbital parameters and energy reserves on board showed that such commands should be issued within two weeks.” Despite initial hope and optimism, on November 9 it was not possible to obtain telemetry from the device. The communication problem arose due to the fact that the main onboard X-band radio complex and the ground stations working with it were not planned to be used when the spacecraft was in low Earth orbit. According to the plan, the first communication session with its help should have taken place already on the departure trajectory, after the station entered the radio visibility zone Russian funds on the morning of November 9.

In the reference orbit, there was simply nothing to transmit a command on board in the X-band. The angular velocity of the target, especially the trajectory near the perigee, was so high that not only the 70-meter long-distance space communications antennas, but also the 12-meter Spectr-X antennas modified specifically for this launch at Baikonur and in Bear Lakes, which were to be used at a distance of up to several million kilometers from Earth. In order to contact the emergency AWS, it was necessary to modernize the ground points, in particular, to defocus the antennas in order to obtain a wide radiation pattern from a narrow beam and “catch” the device.

Only after receiving information from on board about the actual state of the device’s systems could it be possible to prepare a second launch attempt from a low orbit.

On the 9th and on the night of November 10, attempts were made to “hear” the board and transmit command and program information to it. On the afternoon of November 10, the European Space Agency station in Perth (Australia) was involved in the reception - it turned out to be well located from the point of view of overlapping the “dead” orbits, and the spacecraft passed over it near the apogee and in the light. Alas, Phobos-Grunt was silent and did not respond to commands, although photography from domestic optical observation points showed the solar orientation expected in the current situation.

On the evening of November 10, an attempt was made from Baikonur to issue a direct execution command. “Phobos-Grunt” was supposed to include a system of external trajectory measurements - as a kind of autonomous “beeper”, an indicator that it is capable of receiving and executing commands. And again failure...

In the first days of the flight, based on an analysis of the orbital elements at Phobos-Grunt, published by the American Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC), it seemed to many experts that the perigee of the orbit was slowly rising. Since there was no talk of deliberate maneuvering, it seemed that Phobos-Grunt was trying to maintain a solar orientation, and the operation of the low-thrust engines so “successfully” disturbed the orbit.

Subsequent analysis showed that from November 9 to 18, the orbits determined by JSpOC had a noticeable spread in parameters, with the perigee altitude remaining almost unchanged, while the apogee decreased as expected. The period from November 18 to 21 turned out to be even more incomprehensible, when according to American data, a confident increase in the perigee by almost 3 km was read (if you count it from the spherical Earth, i.e. get rid of the latitude dependence!). And on November 21, all these mysterious evolutions suddenly stopped, and the change in the orbit of Phobos-Grunt began to correspond to the movement of a passive body with an almost unchanged ballistic coefficient.

Meanwhile, on November 14, Vladimir Popovkin commented on the situation with Phobos-Grunt for the first time after launch: “The reason [for the situation] is still very difficult to understand, because we cannot get telemetry from it. Now experts are conducting a number of attempts to install programs...”

On November 22, Deputy Head of Roscosmos Vitaly Davydov announced that there was still no telemetry from on board, and therefore “... we need to be realistic. Since we were unable to establish contact with him for so long, there is very little chance that we will carry out this expedition now.”

On the same day, ESA announced the latest in a series of attempts to hear Phobos-Grunt through Perth Station on the night of 22–23 November. Five communication sessions were planned, each lasting no more than 6-7 minutes. And then, as if in a movie, a miracle happened at the very last moment! The Australian station, equipped with a special transmitting antenna with a 3-watt transmitter, was for the first time able to “reach out” to the silent Russian probe. A command sequence was sent from Perth at a speed of 7 bit/s to turn on the transmitter - and the device that had just emerged from the shadows responded: a response carrier frequency signal was immediately received!

On the night of November 23-24, it was possible to issue commands from Perth and receive an “emergency” telemetry frame from the X-band radio complex. It became clear that the transmitter was powered and operational, but the parts could not be “pulled out” - perhaps due to the fact that the data “spoilt” when passing through the decoder of the European station.

On November 24 at 16:05, when the spacecraft was passing low above the horizon in the light, it was possible to obtain a complete “emergency” frame using the station at Baikonur. It reflected the state of individual blocks of the flight module’s radio complex, the operating voltages on the buses of the radio complex, the temperatures on its individual elements - everything was normal. It was also possible to find out that the data exchange bus with the on-board control complex is in working condition. In addition, the frame contained a history of switching between the main and backup transmitters.
All this, however, did not provide new significant information for analyzing the emergency situation and finding a way out of it. And all further attempts to get in touch with the device from Baikonur and from Australia and receive telemetry in full from the on-board control complex were unsuccessful...

On the night of November 29, specialists attempted to issue a command from the European station in Perth to turn on the Phobos-Grunt orientation engines in order to raise its orbit and make it more convenient to work with the device using standard means. But these attempts did not bring success either.

As it became known later, on November 29, a fragment measuring about 15 cm in size separated from Phobos-Grunt. It is not known whether this happened as a result of attempts to turn on the engines, but, according to one version, the fragment could have separated from the device after the explosion of a chemical power source on the main line propulsion system.

On December 2, ESA announced the end of support for the Phobos-Grunt mission using its ground stations, recognizing further attempts as futile. On the same day, Russian specialists decided on a last resort - to try to “blindly” issue a series of commands to turn on the propulsion system of the device in the hope that as a result they would be able to raise its orbit!

On December 8, Vladimir Hartov spoke for the first time after the launch about the technical problems that arose when trying to communicate with the device in low orbit, and also voiced possible reasons emergency situation: “It could have been a serious software error, which occurred in regimes that could not be simulated on Earth. Difference between real life and the modeling could have had an effect in such a way that an unforeseen situation arose that put the machine at a dead end. There could also be a purely hardware reason: at the time of loss of communication with the station, we turned on the power of several units, and this, theoretically, if there was damage during the launch process, could cause temporary power failures. But these are all theories; the official reasons should be established by a specially created commission.”

It should be clarified that, according to sources in the NGO named after. S.A. Lavochkin, it was not possible to reproduce the situation with Phobos-Grunt on ground-based stands.

On December 10, the Roscosmos press service published the following message: “The Federal Space Agency has created an Interdepartmental Commission to analyze the causes of the emergency situation that arose on November 9 of this year. in the process of launching the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft onto its departure trajectory to Mars. Yu.N. was appointed Chairman. Koptev, Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council of the Russian Technologies State Corporation.

In addition, a decision was made to create a joint task force with the Russian Ministry of Defense to monitor the deorbit of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft."

Nowadays official information: the wreckage of the device fell in the Pacific Ocean - 1250 km west of Wellington Island. NASA and ESA have not yet confirmed or denied these reports.

“Forward to Mars!”

The Red Planet became the main target of automatic stations at the dawn of the space age. Before the Mariner 4 flight in 1965, scientists were almost certain of the presence of plant life on Mars, and some even hoped to find the ruins of ancient civilizations.
The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft in working position (Drawing by the NPO named after S.A. Lavochkin) Unfortunately, Soviet researchers had no luck with missions to the Red Planet. Of all the probes sent to Mars, only four partially completed the task. The first of these was Mars 2 (1971), which entered orbit around Mars and imaged the surface, but the images were unsuccessful due to a dust storm. In addition, on November 27, 1971, the first lander in history was landed on Mars, which, alas, crashed during landing.

Mars-3 was more fortunate: on December 2, 1971, its descent vehicle made the world’s first soft landing on the surface of the Red Planet. But soon after landing, communication with the device was lost, and people saw a panorama of Mars only in 1976 (American probes Viking 1 and Viking 2).

Four Soviet stations immediately went to Mars in 1973. Mars-4, due to a malfunction in the on-board digital computer, flew past, but managed to take good pictures. Mars 5 entered orbit around the planet and largely completed its research mission. The signal from the Mars-6 descent module disappeared before landing, and Mars-7, like Mars-4, missed the planet due to an accident on the on-board digital computer.

The only way to respond to the success of the Vikings was with a super-ambitious project, for example, delivering soil from Mars. In the 1970s, such a mission was developed, first based on the use of the super-heavy N-1 rocket (which ultimately was never taught to fly), and then on a two-launch scheme using two Proton rockets. Alas, the soil delivery project was closed, and there was a break in the Soviet Mars program - efforts were devoted to studying Venus.

Only in the mid-1980s did Soviet scientists return to exploring Mars. This time, his satellite, Phobos, was chosen as the target. Unfortunately, the two Phobos stations launched in 1988 were unable to complete the program. The first device was lost on the flight path to Mars due to an incorrect command, and Phobos-2, having reached Mars, carried out a successful series of observations from orbit, but lost contact with the Earth just before landing on Phobos.

On November 16, 1996, Mars-96, made on the basis of Phobos, was launched to Mars with extreme effort, in conditions of an acute lack of funds and time for development. Alas, the second switching on of the upper stage engine - to reach the departure trajectory - was not carried out, and a few hours after launch the device entered the Earth's atmosphere and collapsed. Test on a vibration complex (Photo by NPO named after S.A. Lavochkin) Foreign partners - participants in the Mars-96 project insisted on repeating the launch in 1998. Many of them had duplicates of the instruments that died along with the apparatus. Unfortunately, due to the difficult economic situation in Russia, there were no funds for the production of another heavy interplanetary station and an expensive carrier. Some of the instruments were sent to Mars in 2003 on the European spacecraft Mars Express.

In 1997, two leading Russian space institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences - the Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry named after V.I. Vernadsky (GEOKHI) and the Space Research Institute (IKI) - agreed on the “Scientific and technical forecast for the development of research on planets, the Moon and small bodies solar system..." They proposed launching the Luna-Glob lunar station with a landing vehicle and penetrators in 1999, in 2001, as part of the Russian-American program “Together to Mars” - “Mars-Aster” (Mars rover and penetrators), and in 2003 g. - “Phobos-Grunt” for the purpose of delivering Phobos substance. In order to save money, the AMS should have been created to be launched by medium-class missiles. They were supposed to be based on one universal platform, and low-thrust electric propulsion engines (EPE) as a propulsion engine. In the first, lunar project, this platform had to undergo extensive testing.

The planetary section of the Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences approved the program and on October 24, 1997 sent a request to the Space Council to include two projects in the development and development work (R&D) plan for 1998 - Luna-Glob and the joint Mars-Phobos mission -Grunt" with the possibility of launching in 1999 and 2001. accordingly, and with the allocation of 20% of the funding for the scientific section of the Federal Space Program. In subsequent years, it was planned to deliver soil from the Moon and send a lunar rover there (in 2004 and 2006, respectively), participate in joint projects with NASA for delivering soil from Mars (2005) and deploying a network of stations on the Red Planet (InterMarsNet project, 2007 .) and even deliver samples of matter from an asteroid (2008).

However, the situation with financing “scientific” space in those years was extremely difficult. After the death of Mars-96, it was decided to allocate almost all of the allocated funds to the Spectrum space telescope program, since foreign partners participating in the projects insisted on their speedy launch. Defend the planetary program, find only 600 million rubles. (at prices of that time - about $100 million) for two of its priority projects turned out to be impossible.

In April 1998, the Space Council decided to leave only one interplanetary project in the program until 2005, leaving its choice to scientists. On June 2, the planetary section headed by the director of GEOKHI, academician Eric Mikhailovich Galimov, chose the most complex, interesting and promising mission - “Phobos-Grunt” - with a launch into the astronomical window of 2003 on a Soyuz-2 rocket.

In order to simplify and save money, a landing vehicle with a rover landing on Mars was excluded from the joint project “Mars-Phobos-Grunt”. This made it possible to reduce the cost of the project from 370 to 300 million rubles. (excluding RN; about $50 million at the “pre-crisis” exchange rate). But even in its reduced form, the project for delivering samples from Phobos was supposed to become a significant contribution of domestic science to the global Mars exploration program.

On November 5, 1998, the Scientific and Technical Council of the Russian Space Agency recommended that the project be transferred to the R&D stage from the 4th quarter of 1998 with the transition to preliminary design from 1999. In reality, research work was completed in 1999, and the preliminary design design started in 2000

In its original version, Phobos-Grunt had a launch mass of 7250 kg and consisted of three modules: an orbital transfer module, an electric propulsion module and a block of drop tanks. It was transferred from the reference orbit of the satellite to the initial heliocentric orbit by three pulses of the onboard liquid rocket engine (liquid jet engine), after which the block of tanks was dropped. Giant solar panels with an area of ​​60 m2 were opened - and the AMS (automatic interplanetary station), weighing only 2370 kg, continued its flight to Mars, using low-thrust electric propulsion engines to form the trajectory. On approach to the Red Planet, the electric propulsion module was separated, the liquid-propellant rocket engine issued a deceleration impulse, and the device entered orbit around Mars. This was followed by the stages of rendezvous, landing on Phobos and soil sampling with placing the sample into the take-off rocket. 1-3 days after landing, the take-off rocket launched towards the Earth.

The expedition was supposed to begin in December 2004 - June 2005; there was little time to create a new device. Meanwhile, the lion's share of the scientific budget was taken by the astrophysical projects "Spectrum" and "Integral", and funding for the mission to Phobos remained several times lower than necessary: ​​10 million sharply "thinner" rubles in 2000 and 2001, 14 million in 2002 ., 15 million - in 2003. Launching not only in 2004-2005, but also in 2007 was no longer out of the question.

By the beginning of 2004, the project had undergone dramatic changes. “Phobos-Grunt” lost a module with electric rocket engines: in order to reduce the duration of the flight, it was decided to use a sustainer propulsion system (MPU) created on the basis of the Fregat RB, but without its own control and power supply systems, and also without radio complex. After the separation of the MDU, additional acceleration of the station, corrections and braking at Mars should have been provided by the spacecraft's own propulsion system.

The launch weight of the vehicle increased to 8120 kg, of which the flight module accounted for 590 kg, and the mass of the return vehicle was 110 kg. For research along the flight route and on the surface of Phobos, the spacecraft could carry a set of scientific equipment (up to 50 kg) and an additional payload (120 kg). Four small Martian weather stations weighing 15−20 kg were considered as the latter.
Scheme of launching the spacecraft onto the departure trajectory (NPO named after S.A. Lavochkin) IKI director Lev Matveevich Zeleny was appointed scientific director of the project. The cost of the mission was estimated at 1.5 billion rubles, which still corresponded to $50 million. The launch was supposed to take place in October 2009, the return in July 2012. The implementation of the Phobos-Grunt project in this version actually began with 2005 In 2006, at the NPO named after. S.A. Lavochkin (general designer and general director - Georgy Maksimovich Polishchuk, chief designer of the project - Maxim Borisovich Martynov) completed the prototyping of the main components and instruments of the AMS, and carried out the first vibration tests of the assembled spacecraft. The production of a series of ten technological prototypes began in 2007.

However, in the spring of 2007, the project was changed again. On March 26, an Agreement on cooperation in the field of joint Russian-Chinese research on Mars was signed, which provided for the launch of a corresponding Chinese probe on the Russian AMS. In this regard, it was necessary to introduce an additional design element - a divided truss between the MDU and the flight module, inside which the Chinese microsatellite was placed. As a result, it was necessary to refine the propulsion system, supplemented by a drop-down block of tanks, an on-board control complex, elements of the power supply system, etc. The last fundamental change to the project was made in April 2009, when the development of a small meteorological station for landing on Mars was stopped.

The launch of the device was still planned for the fall of 2009, but literally two months before the estimated date, the Federal Space Agency decided to postpone it to the astronomical window of 2011. Official reason there was an unavailability of the manipulator complex produced by IKI. Unofficial - the general unavailability of the device and, in particular, its on-board control complex.

Soon after this, in January 2010, the leadership of the NGO named after. S.A. Lavochkina. Viktor Vladimirovich Hartov and his team made active efforts to finalize the project. In January 2011, the assembly of Phobos-Grunt was completed and its electrical tests began, and thermal vacuum tests took place in February-March. Final tests and operations with the spacecraft in Khimki took place from May to August. On September 29, its propulsion system was delivered to Baikonur, and on October 17, the Phobos-Grunt itself was delivered by An-124-100 aircraft.

Design of the Phobos-Grunt AMS

"Phobos-Grunt" was created on the basis of the new unified multi-purpose module "Flagman". The AMS is made according to a complex multi-stage scheme with sequential separation of spent units and consists of the following components:

— a sustainer propulsion system (MPU) for launching with a jettisonable tank block (SBT), designed to form a departure trajectory, its corrections and entry into the initial orbit of the artificial satellite of Mars (ISM);

— a transition truss (TF), inside of which an adapter with the Chinese satellite “Inho-1” is fixed;

— the flight module (MF), which is the main structural and operational element of the AMS until the moment of launch from Phobos;

— reentry vehicle (RA) for takeoff from the surface of Phobos, launch and flight to Earth and formation of the trajectory of the descent vehicle’s entry into the Earth’s atmosphere;

— a descent vehicle (DS) for braking in the atmosphere and delivering to Earth a sealed container with soil samples from Phobos.

"Who is to blame and what to do?"

The main objective of the mission was to establish the mechanism of Phobos' emergence: whether it formed along with Mars or was captured later

from the asteroid belt. This would make it possible to substantiate the model of the formation of the Solar system. Of the two Martian moons, Phobos was also chosen because it is closer to Mars than Deimos, and it may contain Martian soil knocked out from the surface of the planet when meteorites fall.

Now, after a more than 20-year break in domestic interplanetary research, the Phobos-Grunt project seems too ambitious. The device had to not only fly to the satellite and land on its surface, but also return. Such a flight to the Moon lasts two weeks; No one has ever done a multi-year expedition with a return, and even in the USA they were just thinking about it.

It must be taken into account, however, that in those years when the Phobos-Grunt project was being “founded”, memories of the exceptionally successful missions to Venus and Halley’s comet (the Vega project) were still fresh, and the expedition to obtain soil from the satellite of Mars looked quite feasible , but challenging task. Looking from today, we must admit that the Vegas launched in 1984 became the last completely successful domestic interplanetary missions. That is, by the time work on Phobos-Grunt actually began, a whole generation of specialists who had experience in creating automatic stations and controlling them on interplanetary trajectories had left the Russian cosmonautics. They had no one to share their experience with - young scientists and engineers almost did not come to the space industry in the early and mid-1990s.

Much in the Phobos-Grunt project had to be learned from scratch - and immediately on a very difficult mission. Plus, the design of the device changed every now and then. After the appearance of the Chinese “fellow traveler,” the project had to be almost completely redrawn and switched from Soyuz to Zenit. Perhaps, in the course of these numerous changes, the prerequisites for the error arose that did not allow the device to fly away from the Earth.

The main reason for the failure can be called underfunding of the scientific component of the space industry. Funding for space science makes up only 7% of the Roscosmos budget, and these funds are distributed among all scientific developments. For example, the cost of all work on the Phobos-Grunt project over all 15 years amounted to approximately $170 million, and even that was mainly allocated only in the last five years. For comparison: the cost of American scientific developments for the Curiosity rover (Mars Science Laboratory project), which successfully launched to the Red Planet on November 26, 2011, amounted to $2 billion.

Enthusiasm and determination alone are not enough for modern astronautics. So that stations do not get stuck in near-Earth orbits, and satellites do not fall into the ocean

An, we need test benches, careful repeated testing of all systems, and most importantly - competent organization of work and experienced specialists. We need a school where generations are connected and the experience gained through a number of successive projects is passed on. Due to the total underfunding of the 1990s, consistency was disrupted, and talented and energetic specialists who could now be middle managers left the industry without preparing their replacements.

It would be more logical, from the point of view of gaining experience, to start with the preparation of lunar missions, first of all creating a relatively inexpensive probe on which a new platform, communication and control technology, and methods of interaction between specialists could be tested. In reality, everything turned out the other way around - at first, a very complex interplanetary station was created almost from scratch, and the lunar project on its basis was postponed to 2015... As a result, the young specialists, of course, gained experience, but at too high a price.

The death of Phobos-Grunt forces us to ask the same questions again and again:

Will there be a five-year break before next start as fatal as the intervals before Mars-96 and especially Phobos-Grunt became?

How will the timing of the implementation of new projects that were supposed to be implemented on the Phobos-Grunt platform tested in flight change?

Will an attempt be made to implement the Phobos-Grunt project (albeit in a reduced version) in four years (one could hope to repeat the attempt in the next astronomical window only during the times of S.P. Korolev and G.N. Babakin)?

Will foreign partners want to take the risk of placing their scientific equipment on Russian spacecraft again?

Can Russia even lay claim to the status of a leading space power without launching a single interplanetary station?

And, as always, only one thing is clear: if anyone can master this road, it will be the one who walks. If you build many interplanetary stations and launch them as often as possible (starting, for example, with lunar probes), success will come.

Alexander Ilyin,
"Cosmonautics News"
especially for TrV-Nauka

FROM THE EDITOR

At the beginning of January of the new year, the head of Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper said, in particular, the following:

— That is, the degree of risk of the Phobos mission was clear, but there was nowhere to go?

“There was simply no other way.” Today it is not clear why the Phobos-Grunt propulsion system did not start. Also incomprehensible are the frequent malfunctions with our devices during the period when they fly over the shadow side of the Earth for Russia - where we do not see the device and do not receive telemetry from it. I don’t want to blame anyone, but today there are very powerful means of influencing spacecraft, the possibility of their use cannot be ruled out.”

Foreign media quickly responded to these words, considering them - with good reason - an allusion to the United States of America. The New York Times linked the statement to "growing anti-Americanism Russian politics", but noted that "Mr. Popovkin's remark stands in stark contrast to the spirit of cooperation that characterizes Russia's modern civil space activities, which are conducted in cooperation with NASA, the European Space Agency and other foreign partners."

Even more ironic is Time magazine, which in a rather scathing article notes that “The United States would have nothing to gain and a lot to lose if it started pulling tricks on the Russian Mars probe—especially now that we are dependent on Roscosmos rockets to transport us.” to the NASA-built International Space Station."

The Russian-language Internet also responded to the words of the head of Roscosmos, but the reaction was twofold: there were supporters of the “conspiracy” theory and those who see in the said phrase a threat to the further development of space research. After all, it was thanks to the help of NASA and ESA (not to mention many astronomy enthusiasts around the world) that we managed to find Phobos-Grunt and try to conduct a communication session with it. On board the station, in addition to Russian ones, foreign instruments were also installed, including the BIOPHOBOS experiment, launched on the initiative of the American Planetary Society. And it’s no secret that scientific space in last years largely survived due to international cooperation based on many years of experience work. But if instead of gratitude you hear a poorly hidden accusation of malicious intent, what connections can withstand it?

It may be objected that NASA is a civilian agency, while Vladimir Popovkin probably had other departments in mind and, perhaps, was not even talking about Phobos-Grunt. Undoubtedly. But, unfortunately, in the world of catchy news and global information networks there is no time for subtle differences in meaning.

1. “We have to decide on the feasibility of manned missions” 01/09/2012 http://www.izvestia.ru/news/511 258

2. Russian Official Suggests Weapon Caused Exploration Spacecraft’s Failure, by Andrew E. Kramer, 01/10/2012 http://

AMS "Phobos"

Phobos is the latest Soviet program to study Mars and its moons.

The project under the leadership of Academician Sagdeev was launched on the wave of successful cooperation with Western scientific organizations within the framework of the AMC "Vega" project. Implementation costs on the part of the USSR - 272 million rubles, on the part of other countries - 60 million rubles, the price of the Phobos-1 and Phobos-2 AMS - 51 million rubles.

Chronology

Design

The 1F series spacecraft is designed as a unified basic apparatus for carrying out multi-purpose and diverse expeditions for the purpose of exploring planets and small bodies (comets, asteroids, planetary satellites) of the Solar System. The device can maneuver in close proximity to the surface of celestial bodies with a weak gravitational field.

The device is designed in such a way that its design and the composition of the service part systems remain virtually unchanged when changing the choice of object of study (Mars, Venus, the Moon or other, including small, bodies). Re-equipment associated with changes in the purpose and scientific program of the expedition relates mainly to fuel reserves and the composition of detachable research probes and the composition of scientific equipment. The design of the device provides the possibility of placing on it, simultaneously or selectively, technical means remote sensing (radars, telescopes, etc.), as well as landing research probes (landers, small stations, penetrators, etc.).

The spacecraft consists of an orbital unit (OB) and an autonomous propulsion system (APU).

The power element of the design of the Phobos spacecraft is a sealed torus instrument compartment, to which an autonomous propulsion system (APU) is docked at the bottom, and a scientific equipment compartment (cylindrical instrument compartment) at the top.

There is a special platform at the top of the orbital block. Detachable research probes can be placed on the platform. A mid-directional antenna of an autonomous radio system is installed on the same platform and scientific equipment can be placed.

On the platform of the AMS "Phobos-1" and "Phobos-2" there are detachable research probes DAS - a long-lived autonomous station (its weight is 67 kg, the weight of seven scientific instruments on it is 18.1 kg) and PROP-FP - a device for assessing patency - Phobos. The same platform houses scientific equipment for studying the Sun and a mid-directional antenna for an autonomous radio system. The separation of the ADU after the transition to the orbit of the artificial satellite close to the orbit of Phobos allows the start of work of the service and scientific equipment previously closed by it and located in the torus instrument compartment, necessary for approaching Phobos and carrying out its research program.

results

Phobos was photographed on February 21, 27 and 28, 1989 - 38 images of Phobos were obtained High Quality from a distance of 300 km to 1100 km, the maximum resolution was approximately 40 meters.

Using the KRFM-ISM complex (combined radiometer-spectrophotometer, infrared spectrometer), the surface of Mars was studied in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges: inhomogeneities in the thermal field of Mars were discovered with a resolution of up to 10 km, it was established that in the hottest places the surface temperature of Phobos is more than 300, composition surface - broken regolith, near the equator - an anomaly in ultraviolet brightness.

Magnetometers "Magma" and "FGMM" made it possible to measure the magnetic field and establish the position on the trajectory of the magnetopause and the circumplanetary wave.

The Taus instrument studied protons and alpha particles of the solar wind during the flight to Mars and in the ISM orbit, the result was their three-dimensional spectra and two-dimensional spectra of massive particles. The Esther instrument established a hundredfold increase in the flux of particles in the range of 30-300 keV, likely composing the radiation belts of Mars.

The completed studies of Mars, Phobos and the near-Martian space also made it possible to obtain unique scientific results about the plasma environment of Mars - using the APVF device (plasma wave analyzer), its interaction with the solar wind. Based on the flux of oxygen ions leaving the Martian atmosphere, detected using the Aspera instrument, it was possible to estimate the rate of erosion of the Martian atmosphere caused by interaction with the solar wind.

The main task - delivery of descent vehicles (PrOP-F and DAS) to the surface of Phobos to study the satellite of Mars - remained unfulfilled.

Communication with the Phobos-1 spacecraft was lost on the flight route to Mars. Communication with the Phobos-2 spacecraft was lost after 57 days of flight in the orbit of the artificial satellite of Mars, 10-11 days before the completion of the research program.

Project "Phobos" in philately

On July 7, 1988, a multi-color USSR postage stamp was issued with a circulation of 3.55 million copies. (DFA [ITC “Marka”] No. 5964) works by the artist V. Davydov depicting the Phobos spacecraft, the Mars satellite Phobos and space, with the text “International space project Phobos.” The USSR postal block, issued in a circulation of 1.3 million copies on April 24, 1989, was also dedicated to the Phobos project. (DFA [ITC “Marka”] No. 6066). Created by artist Rim Strelnikov, the block features a multi-color image of the Phobos spacecraft against the backdrop of the planet Mars, its moon Phobos, and space, with the text “International Space Project Phobos.”

In 1988, a series of seven stamps and a block was issued

The Martian: how to survive on the Red Planet Pervushin Anton Ivanovich

The collapse of the Phobos project

The collapse of the Phobos project

In the second half of the twentieth century, Soviet scientists were very interested in the Martian satellite Phobos. Joseph Shklovsky’s hypothesis about its artificial origin, illustrated by the texts of popular science fiction writers (the Strugatsky brothers, “Trainees”; Vladimir Mikhailov, “Special Necessity”; Alexander Kazantsev, “Faetes”), captured and awakened the imagination.

In 1979, the Soviet Union initiated a program to create universal spacecraft for studying the planets of the Solar System - the UMVL project (“Universal [for studying] Mars, Venus, Moon”). Development of the station wagon progressed slowly, and the project eventually resulted in an unmanned mission known as Phobos.

The matter was carried out on a grand scale. Not only Soviet institutes, but also scientific institutions of Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Austria, Finland, France, Switzerland and Sweden were invited to cooperate in the development of research methods and station equipment. About 500 million rubles were spent on preparing the Phobos expedition from 1980 to 1989.

The new interplanetary station, developed at the G.N. Babakin Research Center, included the spacecraft itself and an autonomous propulsion system. Scientists involved in the project have come up with unique equipment for Phobos, which allows them to comprehensively study this satellite of Mars.

It was assumed that, having reached an altitude of about 50 km above the surface of Phobos, the device would begin to approach it according to commands from on-board systems. Having approached to a distance of 50 m, the station would have drifted for 15–20 minutes. During the drift, for the first time in history, Phobos had to study the elemental and isotopic composition of the soil on the surface using laser and ion probing. Thanks to the evaporation of the substance under the influence of these remote tools, it is possible to establish chemical and physical properties soil. It was planned to take samples at one hundred pre-designated points. In parallel, the television system would provide filming through three light filters, which would make it possible to obtain synthesized color images, where details of the surface of Phobos with linear dimensions of 6 cm would become visible. The storage device included in the video spectrometric complex was capable of storing up to 1100 full frames and then reading them for transmissions to Earth.

For April-May 1989, scientists planned a cycle of research on Phobos using landing probes: a long-lived autonomous station and a mobile probe. After separation from the spacecraft, the autonomous station was harpooned on the surface of Phobos. Over the course of three months, she had to conduct a variety of scientific experiments.

At the end of May 1989, a small mobile probe was also supposed to land from Phobos-2. He could move along the surface of the Martian satellite, taking advantage of its slight gravity. Having collided with the surface, the probe bounced, absorbing part of the impact energy through the shock absorption of the body. After several such bounces and stops, the probe separated the orienting device and was transferred to the working position using special “whiskers”. Having examined the satellite's soil at the first stop, the probe, pushing off from the surface by a spring mechanism, made a ballistic flight over a distance of four tens of meters, calmed down again and continued exploring the soil - in total it could make ten such jumps.

The project was so well thought out that no one doubted its success. On July 7 and 12, 1988, starting from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, four-stage Proton-K launch vehicles launched two automatic stations onto the flight path to Mars: Phobos-1 (1F, product No. 101) and Phobos -2" ("1F", "product" No. 102). At first everything went well, but soon problems began.

On September 2, 1988, due to an error made by the operator when drawing up the operating program for the on-board equipment, the working set was turned off executive bodies orientation system, which led to the uncontrolled flight of Phobos-1. As a result, the onboard batteries were discharged, and the spacecraft lost the ability to receive radio commands.

The loss of Phobos 1 was absurd, but nothing could be changed. We could only hope that nothing like this would happen to Phobos-2.

On January 29, 1989, Phobos 2 reached the outskirts of Mars and was transferred to an elliptical orbit over the Martian equator with an orbital period of three days. Somewhat later, the station was transferred to an elliptical observation orbit at an altitude of about 6300 km. The research lasted almost two months. The station obeyed commands from Earth and transmitted clear images of Mars and Phobos. It all ended when the station began to approach Phobos in order to drop an autonomous station onto its surface. And then the connection was interrupted.

On March 26, 1989, a day before the loss of contact with Phobos 2, its star sensor recorded an “unknown object of significant size.” Upon careful inspection, images of a black spindle-shaped object and a dark stripe were discovered among the images transmitted to Earth. There was enough information about this for some media outlets to produce screaming headlines like: “Martians stole a Soviet spacecraft!” or “Martian air defense is still in effect!” Only in 1997 did experts give a detailed explanation of what happened. It turned out that the mysterious images were obtained using a linear camera “thermoscan” - a device whose operating principle is more reminiscent of a loom than an ordinary camera. It is based on a mirror that swings in a direction perpendicular to the movement of the station. The device captures only the image of a narrow strip of a particular landscape, and the next strip is recorded when the mirror is rotated again. And so - cycle by cycle, strip by strip - a complete image is formed. It is clear that it corresponded to the true picture only when the captured panorama was completely still. If any part of it moved, inevitable distortions arose. So, the dark stripe, which was perceived by many as a “contrail” of the movement of a certain object, actually arose due to the passage of the shadow of “Phobos” across the surface of Mars - the ground temperature dropped, and a corresponding darkening appeared on the thermal scanner. And the oblong object itself is nothing more than the shadow of Phobos itself, blurred due to distortions caused by the apparatus.

Most probable cause The loss of Phobos-2 was recognized as the simultaneous “freezing” of two channels of the on-board computer and, as a consequence, loss of orientation with transition to random rotation.

Thus, Soviet scientists did not achieve the main goal of the space project. And yet some results were obtained. For example, for the first time, thermal images of the surface of the red planet with a spatial resolution of 2 to 3 km were transmitted to Earth. Spectrometric studies of gamma radiation from the surface of Mars made it possible to estimate the content of the main rock-forming elements (magnesium, aluminum, sulfur, iron) and natural radioactive elements (uranium, thorium). Analysis chemical composition atmosphere of Mars gave a distribution by altitude of the concentrations of water vapor, molecular oxygen, carbon dioxide, dust, temperature and pressure profiles. Using the video spectrometric complex, 37 images of the surface of Phobos were obtained with a resolution of up to 45 m per pixel. And, of course, no signs of artificial origin of the Martian satellite were found, which scientists have long since become accustomed to.

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— Lev Matveevich, is it true that the Phobos-Grunt project will be revived?

“We believe that this is a unique project and it is impossible to abandon it due to the failure of the launch in November last year. No accident can cancel scientific interest in the Martian satellite Phobos, the material from which is priceless, and it is easier to bring it from there than from the planet itself. The new station could be launched in 2018 - this is the most suitable date both in ballistics and in the situation in our industry. The objectives for the new mission should remain the same: get to Phobos, take soil samples and deliver them to Earth. If the new “Phobos-Grunt” can be realized, we will become the first owners of matter from outside the Earth-Moon system. True, the Japanese, as part of the Hayabusa project, managed to obtain a microscopic amount of dust from the Itokawa asteroid using their probe, but we are counting on much more significant and science-intensive samples. At the same time, the new device must be improved, simplified and lightened both structurally and in terms of the composition of the equipment. We need to make a fundamental decision this year: after all, there is a huge amount of work ahead. The RAS sent a corresponding letter to Roscosmos. If we get the support of the country's leadership, I think everything will work out.

- Why did the mission fail?

— Initially, the launch of the station was planned for 2006, then the project underwent a radical revision. And here the lack of funding of many past years comes back to haunt us. As a result, the spacecraft was not ready for launch in 2009. First of all, it was not possible to fully develop the control system. In addition, it was partially entrusted with the functions of controlling the accelerating unit. And, of course, not all the instruments had time to be calibrated, because, again, due to the initial lack of funding, we started making them very late. There is hope that by 2011 all these problems will be solved. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. I have said many times that the device is crude, the control system is not fully developed. What happened did not come as a surprise to us.

“In that case, maybe there’s no need to rush?”

“We delayed the launch as long as we could.” It was impossible to delay any further. The nearest astronomical window, when the confrontation between Earth and Mars in terms of ballistics would become possible for flight, would come only in 2016. However, since the spacecraft took a very long time to create, the warranty periods for many components and instruments were coming to an end. And, if we had not launched in 2011, Phobos would have simply been thrown away. The high degree of risk of the mission was obvious even before the launch, but there was simply no other way but launch.

— Do you feel that planetary research is extremely difficult for us?

- This is the sad truth. Our scientific projects can be listed on the fingers of one hand. This is primarily the Interball project to study the Sun and solar-terrestrial connections. Last year, the Spektr-R radio astronomical observatory (Radioastron project) was launched into space, designed for deep space exploration. The device has a plasma complex for studying the solar wind and local conditions of the space environment. This complex, created by specialists from the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Czech and Slovak scientists, is already transmitting interesting data.

We have not stood aside and are conducting active research. Our instruments operate successfully on Mars, Venus, and the Moon. Deputy Director of the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences Oleg Korablev does a lot of research on the European spacecraft Mars Express and Venus Express. Both devices were launched into space by the Russian Soyuz-FG launch vehicle, equipped with the Fregat upper stage, developed at the NPO named after. S. A. Lavochkina. This bundle has become a kind of gentleman's kit for a large number of scientific projects. European colleagues say that there is nothing more reliable in their arsenal of launch vehicles yet. It's nice…

For more than ten years now, the HEND neutron instrument, created in the laboratory of our professor Igor Mitrofanov, has been functioning perfectly on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Our joint analysis of the experiments with the Americans yielded sensational results about the enormous reserves of water ice in the subsurface layer of soil on Mars. The same laboratory created a similar device that operates near the Moon. In November 2011, an interplanetary station with the heaviest rover of all existing Mars rover launched to Mars. It also carries Russian scientific equipment.

— Why do Venus and Mars attract such interest?

— It’s logical to start with what’s closest. Venus is being actively explored today, and the next decade will be a turning point in the history of its study. New missions are planned. We are thinking about a landing vehicle that will “live” on the surface of Venus not for several tens of minutes, like our probes in the 70s, but for hours or even days. Such a project is very difficult to implement due to the extreme temperature conditions on the surface and pressure under a hundred atmospheres, but this should not stop us. Most of our successful planetary projects, including landings on the surface, are associated with Venus. We were and remain the leaders here: so far no one except us has been able to land on Venus, even for seconds. Our American colleagues made fun of us: why, they say, you “Reds” cannot land on “your” Red Planet? To which we replied that we know how to approach women and understand a lot about love, so we’re not in a hurry and we’re lucky with Venus.

— Jokes aside, but today I would like to finally get answers to sacramental questions related primarily to Mars. There are a lot of legends around him.

“There are only two places in the solar system where we hope to find organic life- alive or dead. And this is primarily Mars, because the conditions there, although extreme, are still suitable for survival, at least for the simplest organisms. During the daytime, it resembles Antarctica, so in principle, considering Mars as a backup planet for humanity is not a crazy idea. We are now negotiating with European scientists about joint experiments to explore this planet, including with the help of heavy landing platforms. Mars has a number of intriguing features that are not yet entirely understood. For example: where do traces of streams come from on a cold planet? It turns out that in the summer the temperature on Mars rises above zero and the ice melts, streams of water appear, which flow downhill and freeze again. The gullies that appear in the photographs have a strange shape - they narrow downwards. Quite a lot of such areas with bizarre topography have been discovered, which once again confirms that there really is water on Mars. We don’t know exactly how much it is yet, but we assume that it is at least one or two meters directly below the surface and possibly tens of meters at a depth. If all this ice suddenly melts, the surface of Mars could be covered with a meter-thick layer of water.

Many scientists believe that one or two billion years ago the planet's climate changed dramatically. Before that, it was warm and humid - there could be flowering valleys and babbling rivers on Mars. Quite noticeable climate changes occurred on the planet later. Why? The fact is that the Earth, thanks to the Moon, is in a privileged position compared to other planets. The Moon stabilizes the Earth's rotation. Without it, our planet might not have become an abode of life. The axis of rotation of Mars, on the contrary, wanders due to the influence of other planets, primarily Jupiter.

The question of life on Mars is especially pressing today, and it seems that we have never been so close to the answer. An American lander, which landed in the subpolar region and worked there for several months until it was covered with carbon dioxide snow (this happens there every winter), observed condensation drops similar to terrestrial rain. The drops are round, which means the water was liquid. In 2004, spectrometers installed on spacecraft seemed to have discovered methane on Mars. Its presence was also indicated by ground observations. Russian scientists took an active part in these studies. The presence of a noticeable amount of methane in the atmosphere is strange, because it should be destroyed quite quickly in it. It turns out that there are places on the planet where it is produced, and something is its source. As you know, methane is one of the waste products of organisms. All this excites the global scientific community so much that the next orbital mission to Mars is entirely devoted to methane. Perhaps this will be a Russian-European mission, which after the failure of Phobos is a great blessing for us.

— Well, what celestial body is in second place in terms of the search for life?

— This is one of Jupiter’s satellites, Europa, which became a real surprise for scientists. It turned out to be completely covered with salt water, frozen on top, like a giant skating rink. However, Europa is close to Jupiter, and this giant planet, due to its tidal influence, heats Europa’s ocean from below and prevents it from completely freezing. This is a unique celestial body, where there are many chances to discover traces of life, and this is where we are thinking of sending an expedition in the next decade.

— You mentioned the significant role of the Moon for the Earth. Is everything clear with her?

- Just the opposite. Today we seem to be rediscovering it. The studies performed showed a large number of subsurface ice on both the Moon and Mars. Before this, it was believed that our satellite was a dry, absolutely anhydrous and lifeless body. It turned out that the polar Moon is not at all similar to the one where our automatic stations landed and American astronauts landed. It is not a scorched and dry desert, as we thought, but quite wet: there is quite a lot of water under a thin layer of regolith. And since solar energy there is more than enough, with the help of electrolysis you can obtain oxygen and hydrogen, and this is a gas for breathing and fuel for rocket engines, that is, resources important for the life support of future lunar settlers.

— Together with the NPO named after. Lavochkin, you proposed a new Russian lunar program. What is she like?

— So far it includes two projects: the Russian “Luna-Glob” and the Russian-Indian “Luna-Resurs”. The Luna-Glob project involves studying the topography, chemical and mineralogical composition of lunar rocks, searching for water ice in so-called cold traps in the vicinity of the lunar poles, and the effects of the interaction of the Moon with the interplanetary medium. Initially, it was planned to drop penetrators - penetrating probes - onto the lunar surface. They had to pierce the lunar surface at high speed and go deeper into it, while maintaining functionality. At the same time, the “darts” had to withstand enormous overloads. Unfortunately, we do not yet have such technology. Therefore, it was decided to replace the penetrators with a lander, which can provide a lot of new information about the properties of volatile substances in the lunar polar regions.

Initially, the launch of the Luna-Resurs station was planned for 2013, and Luna-Glob - a year later. After the disaster of the Phobos-Grunt apparatus, our colleagues from the NPO named after. Lavochkin decided to finalize the technical part of the project. Therefore, the launch dates for the stations will shift by about a year.

The main question today is where to sit. After all, all previous landing vehicles - both ours and the American ones - landed in the equatorial regions. Today, scientists are primarily interested in the polar regions of the Moon, which until recently have been practically unexplored. In the polar regions, water could be preserved as ice in the eternally shaded parts of the craters, where the sun's rays never penetrate. However, for some reason, volatile substances migrate from there, and, as shown by the LEND instrument made at the IKI RAS, installed on board the American lunar station LRO, they can be found in the subsurface layer of the lunar regolith and in areas illuminated by the Sun. Only where there is light is it possible to land a spacecraft. So far, preference in choosing a landing site is given to the south pole, where more intense effects associated with water ice are observed.

— Is it difficult today to defend your right to be among the leading space powers?

— Despite the huge number of failures, there are also many successes. It’s too early to bury astronautics. We still have a lot ahead of us. We just need to not only scold, but also support domestic space science.

Spacecraft of the “Phobos” series (series “1F”) are designed to conduct complex studies of objects of the Solar system: the satellite of Mars Phobos (remotely and through contact) - by approaching it up to the state of “low-flight” over its surface and landing a stationary one on it and mobile research probes (DAS and PROP-FP); planet Mars (from the approach trajectory and from the ISM orbit); Sun; interplanetary space, as well as in the field of astrophysics. Series 1F, created within the framework of the international project "Phobos", consists of two vehicles: the spacecraft "Phobos-1" (1F No. 101) and the spacecraft "Phobos-2" (1F No. 102), partially differing in the composition of the target (scientific) equipment . The simultaneous use of both devices in one expedition is envisaged. The duplication of the devices is intended to increase the overall reliability of the target task and somewhat expand the research tasks of the expedition.

The launches of the devices were carried out: “Phobos-1” - 07/7/1988, “Phobos-2” - 07/12/1988.

The expedition program included:

• Carrying out physical testing of a new generation spacecraft being commissioned, designed as a universal spacecraft for conducting comprehensive studies of planets and small bodies of the Solar System.
• Implementation of a scientific program that involves solving the following tasks:
  • On the flight route
    • study of the Sun in the X-ray (Phobos-1 spacecraft), ultraviolet and visible ranges (Phobos-1, -2 spacecraft);
    • obtaining a three-dimensional stereoscopic structure of the solar chromosphere and corona;
    • determining the composition of the solar wind;
    • studying the characteristics of interplanetary shock waves;
    • localization of cosmic gamma-ray bursts.
  • In orbit around Mars
    • - clarification of the parameters of the orbital motion of Phobos and its physical properties;
    • - probing the surface and atmosphere of Mars in the visible, ultraviolet, infrared and gamma ranges;
    • studying the structure of the magnetosphere of Mars, determining the parameters of the magnetic field;
    • study of the Sun and interplanetary space. When approaching Phobos
    • high-resolution television photography of the surface of Phobos;
    • determination of the chemical and mineralogical composition of the surface of Phobos, its physical properties;
    • studying internal structure Phobos, its radiophysical characteristics;
    • landing on its surface a long-lived autonomous station (DAS - Phobos-1, -2 spacecraft) and a mobile probe (PROP-FP - Phobos-2 spacecraft).

Spacecraft

The 1F series spacecraft is designed as a unified basic apparatus for carrying out multi-purpose and diverse expeditions for the purpose of exploring planets and small bodies (comets, asteroids, planetary satellites) of the Solar System. The device is designed so that its design and the composition of the service module systems remain virtually unchanged when changing the choice of object of study (Mars, Venus, the Moon or other bodies, including small ones). Re-equipment associated with changes in the purpose and scientific program of the expedition relates mainly to fuel reserves and the composition of research facilities and the composition of scientific equipment.

The design of the device provides for the possibility of placing on it, simultaneously or selectively, technical means of remote sensing (radars, telescopes, etc.), as well as landing research probes (descent vehicles, small stations, penetrators, etc.). The most important “designed” feature of the device is the ability to maneuver it in close proximity to the surface of celestial bodies with a weak gravitational field. The spacecraft consists of an orbital unit (OB) and an autonomous propulsion system (APU). In the upper part of the orbital block, the payload is placed on a special platform, determined by the tasks of the interplanetary expedition. For the expedition within the framework of the international Phobos project, the payload for the 1F series spacecraft was the detachable research probes DAS and PROP-FP. The same platform houses scientific equipment for studying the Sun and a mid-directional antenna for an autonomous radio system.

The Phobos spacecraft is structurally significantly different from its predecessors - automatic spacecraft designed for planetary research (Venus, Vega, Mars spacecraft). The power element of the design of the Phobos spacecraft was the sealed torus instrument compartment, to which the autonomous propulsion unit (APU) is docked from below, and the scientific equipment compartment (cylindrical instrument compartment) from above.

This arrangement makes it possible to achieve the smallest mass of the actual structure of the apparatus and minimal moments of inertia, on which its maneuverability depends. Thanks to the multi-stage principle, during the flight it is possible to get rid of already spent elements - the “reset” of the ADU allows, at a certain stage, to “get into operation” the service and scientific equipment previously closed by it and located in the torus instrument compartment, necessary for approaching Phobos and carrying out its research program .

SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT

Orbiter

To carry out the planned scientific program, the following scientific equipment is placed on board the Phobos spacecraft:

Remote laser mass analyzer LIMA-D for analysis of the elemental and isotopic composition of soil (USSR, German Democratic Republic, Belarus, Finland, Germany, Czechoslovakia);

Remote secondary ion mass analyzer DION to analyze the elemental composition of Phobos soil (USSR, Austria, Finland, France);

Radar RLC to determine the structure of rocks and the surface topography of Phobos (USSR);

Video spectrometric complex VSK to obtain a television image of the surface of Phobos and Mars (USSR, East Germany, Belarus);

Radiometer-spectrometer CRFM-ISM to study the thermophysical and reflective properties of the surface of Phobos and Mars (USSR, France);

Radiometer-spectrometer TERMOSCAN for mapping Mars and Phobos (USSR);

Gamma ray spectrometer GS-14 to study the chemical composition and radioactivity of the surface of Phobos and Mars (USSR);

Neutron detectors IPNM-3 to determine the content of bound water in the soil of Phobos (USSR);

Optical spectrometer AUGUSTE to study the atmosphere of Mars using the solar radiation method (USSR);

Scanning analyzer ASPERA to study the three-dimensional plasma distribution function (USSR, Finland, Sweden);

Plasma spectrometer IPC for measuring the characteristics of solar wind plasma (USSR, Austria, Hungary, Germany);

Electron spectrometers ESTHER to study the flows of low-energy electrons and solar cosmic rays (USSR, Hungary, Germany, ESA);

Plasma Wave Analyzer APV-F to study radiation from interplanetary and Martian plasma (USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, ESA);

Magnetometers FGMM, MAGMA to study magnetic fields in the vicinity of Mars and in interplanetary space (USSR, Austria, East Germany);

Solar telescope TEREK to obtain images of the Sun and the corona in the X-ray and visible ranges (USSR, Czechoslovakia);

X-ray photometer RF-15 for measuring X-ray radiation from the Sun (USSR, Czechoslovakia);

Solar UV Radiometer SUFR for recording ultraviolet radiation from the Sun (USSR);

Gamma ray spectrometers VGS, LILAS for recording galactic and solar gamma-ray bursts (USSR, France);

Photometer IFIR for studying solar oscillations (USSR, France, Switzerland, ESA).

Research probes landing on the surface of Phobos

For the expedition within the framework of the international project "Phobos", detachable research probes of two types were introduced into the payload for the 1F series spacecraft - stationary (DAS) and mobile (PROP-FP).

To carry out scientific measurements, a complex of scientific instruments is installed on the device (the developer of the device is indicated in brackets):

- penetrometer SA PROP-FP - to determine the physical and mechanical properties of Phobos soil (VNII Transmash);

- acceleration measuring device– to determine the parameters of the dynamics and impact of the SA PROP-FP with the surface (VNII Transmash);

Automatic X-ray fluorescence spectrometer ARS for determining the elemental composition of soil (GEOKHI);

MFP magnetometer for determining the parameters of the magnetic field of Phobos (IZMIRAN).

In general, responsibility for the entire scientific experiment using the PROP-FP probe was assigned to the Geochemical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences named after. IN AND. Vernadsky.

The total weight of the self-propelled vehicle PROP-FP of the Shar complex, together with the separation system from the main vehicle and the damper, is 50 kg.

The scientific program implemented with the help of DAS includes:

Study of the internal distribution of masses based on measurements of forced and free libration (block “Libration” - optical sensor of the angular position of the Sun);

Study of mechanical and thermal characteristics of soil (vibration measuring complex VIC and temperature sensors);

Study of the elemental composition of the surface layer of soil (block “Alpha” X - a complex of spectrometers for particles, protons and X-ray radiation);

Obtaining panoramic images of the surface of Phobos (two television cameras);

Refinement of a number of parameters of the Solar System based on measurements of the range, speed and angles of Phobos relative to quasars during trajectory measurements using large-baseline radio interferometry methods (autonomous radio system).

At each orbit of Phobos around Mars, information is transmitted from the DAS to Earth in the decimeter wavelength range.

The station is autonomous and is controlled both by on-board programs and by commands from the Earth. An international network of radio telescopes is used to receive information.

The total mass of the stationary DAS probe is 67 kg, the mass of the scientific equipment is 18.1 kg, and the active operation time is 3 months.

Scientific results

The most significant in the implementation of the scientific program of the Phobos-1 spacecraft were the results of experiments performed using the Terek solar telescope. Scientists were able to simultaneously observe the least studied layers of the solar atmosphere until that time - the chromosphere, corona and transition layer. Unique information about the structure and dynamics of these layers was obtained. The images obtained using the recording system clearly show the complex structure of plasma formations in the solar atmosphere. New data made it possible to understand the dynamics (from several minutes to a month) of various formations in the solar atmosphere at temperatures from tens of thousands to tens of millions of degrees.

This is necessary to find out the mechanisms for releasing solar energy during various processes and much more. It is impossible to obtain such information from Earth. More than 140 X-ray images of the Sun were taken.

During the flight of the Phobos-2 spacecraft, the first phase of the experiment, called “Celestial Mechanics”, was successfully completed to construct a high-precision theory of the motion of Phobos and clarify its gravitational constant. Unique photographs of Phobos were obtained, taken from various angles and distances. Surveying the surface of Mars with the Termoscan radiometer spectrometer gave, among other things, an unexpected result in the form of the detection of a spindle-shaped shadow of Phobos on the surface of Mars in the resulting images, which caused a lot of guesswork and hypotheses.

The expedition ended without completing the main stage of delivering the descent vehicles to the surface of Phobos. However, studies of Mars, Phobos and the near-Martian space carried out by the Phobos-2 spacecraft for 57 days during the orbital movement around Mars made it possible to obtain unique scientific results on the thermal characteristics of Phobos, the plasma environment of Mars, and its interaction with the solar wind. For example, based on the flux of oxygen ions leaving the Martian atmosphere, detected using an ion spectrometer installed on the Phobos-2 spacecraft, it was possible to estimate the rate of erosion of the Martian atmosphere due to interaction with the solar wind. These measurements are extremely important for studying the history of water on Mars and the Martian atmosphere. Before the expedition of the Phobos-2 spacecraft, less was known about the space around Mars than about the properties of space around much more distant planets - Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn. The data obtained are a good basis for creating an engineering model of Phobos, necessary for subsequent expeditions to this satellite of Mars.

Images of Phobos show that this space object has an irregular shape, which can be approximately approximated by an ellipsoid, dimensions are 13.3x11.1x9.3 km. The major axis of the ellipsoid is directed towards Mars. The satellite's orbit is almost circular with a radius vector of 9.378 km (2.76xRm). The orbital plane is close to the equatorial plane of Mars and inclined at an angle of -24? to the plane of the ecliptic. The orbital period of Phobos around Mars is 7 hours 39 minutes.

One of the most interesting characteristics of Phobos is libration. Phobos is a very interesting object among the known synchronously rotating satellites of the planets of the Solar System, since it has a large libration amplitude.

Phobos has many deep, almost straight parallel grooves 100-200 m wide and 10-20 m deep. Some of these stripes are up to 30 km long. Almost all of these extended streaks begin near the largest crater on Phobos, Stickney, which is 10 km in diameter, more than one-third the diameter of Phobos.

Spectral characteristics measurements made by the Phobos 2 project, as well as previous measurements, showed that the reflectance spectra of Phobos are very different from the spectra obtained from observations of Mars, as well as from the spectra of carbonaceous chondrites and other asteroid analogues. Received in Lately scientific results show that the moons of Mars do not belong to class C asteroids (which previously included Phobos and Deimos). The spectrum of Phobos is more reminiscent of a T-class asteroid, although not completely analogous. The mineralogical interpretation of class T bodies is ambiguous. One paper, based on the results of the Phobos 2 project, suggested that the surface layers of Phobos may be a mixture of material rich in carbon compounds (D-class), processed by cosmic radiation.

The results of measurements of reflective characteristics show that the surface of the Martian satellite does not contain bound water. However, there are estimates that the thermodynamic conditions on this satellite are such that water can be retained at some depth. Clarifying the question of the presence of water (or hydrated molecules) on Phobos is extremely important not only from a scientific, but also from a practical point of view.

Measurements made by the Viking and Phobos 2 spacecraft indicate that increased density dust particles near the orbits of Phobos are most likely associated with the ejection of material from the surface of the Martian satellites during bombardment by micrometeorites. A recent numerical analysis showed that orbital resonances caused by the influence of Mars and variations in solar radiation pressure play an important role in the formation of the dust torus. The study of this problem is important not only from the point of view of understanding the evolution of regolith on the surface of Martian satellites, but also for studying conditions near Mars and for planning promising expeditions to it.

Available data on the physical and chemical characteristics of Phobos do not currently allow us to make a choice between various theories its origin. There are several assumptions. Many authors believe that Phobos, as well as the second satellite of Mars Deimos, was either captured by asteroids, or, according to evolutionary theory, accumulated bodies in Martian orbits.

The data obtained still remains unique, revealing new stage exploration of Mars, which continues, although not without losses, through the efforts of the international scientific community.