[meteorite-list] Russia to Make Second Attempt at Phobos Sample Return

[Ron Baalke]

http://en.ria.ru/science/20131015/184160666/Russia-to-Make-Second-Attempt-at-Mars-Moon-Mission---Scientist.html

Russia to Make Second Attempt at Mars Moon Mission - Scientist
Ria Novosti
October 15, 2013

MOSCOW - Russia will take a second crack at bringing back dust samples 
from Phobos, one of the moons of Mars, after an attempt in 2011 ended 
in the spacecraft crashing back to Earth, a top scientist said Tuesday.

Russia's next bid to recover material from Mars' largest moon will take 
place between 2020 and 2022, Lev Zelyony, the director of the Space Research 
Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said at a press conference.

He said the project, nicknamed "Boomerang," is "still important," and 
claimed the Phobos samples could lead to new discoveries about the birth 
of the solar system.

'The moon, whose name is Greek for "fear," is thought to be a captured 
asteroid and may contain material from the early period of the solar system's 
creation, though scientists still unsure about its origin.

Russia tried to obtain samples from the Mars moon in its 5-billion-ruble 
($165 million, at the then-exchange rate) Phobos-Grunt mission in November 
2011, but a rocket failure left the spacecraft stranded in Earth's orbit, 
and it fell back to Earth two months later.

Zelyony also discussed a number of Russia's other upcoming space projects 
at the conference, including two unmanned Moon landings in 2015 and 2018, 
plans for a probe to Jupiter's moon Ganymede starting in 2014, and a mission 
to recover soil samples from Mars after 2024.