Russia delays first Chinese Mars mission to 2011

William Atkins
Saturday, 03 October 2009 19:22

Science - Space

According to the October 1, 2009 China Daily article “China’s first Mars mission delayed,” Wu Ji, the director of the Center of Space Science and Applied Research (Chinese Academy of Sciences), and his colleagues provided the scientific experiments and designed the technologies within the Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter.

Dr. Ji stated, “We are sorry to learn about the delay.” [China Daily]

He added, "We had looked forward to making some findings through the mission, but it now looks like we have to wait.” [China Daily]

The mission will be launched from a Russian Zenit rocket with a Fregat upper stage from Baikonur Cosmodrome. It will take approximately ten to twelve months to reach orbit about Mars.

Upon entering the vicinity of Mars, the Russian Phobos-Grunt lander will eject the Chinese sub-satellite. It will then descend to the surface of Phobos where it will collect soil samples from the Martian moon and return them to Earth via a small probe.

The Chinese orbiter Yinghuo-1, which has a mass of about 110 kilograms, will remain in orbit about Mars, in an approximate 800-kilometer by 80,000-kilometer equatorial orbit with a five-degree inclination.

The orbital mission is expected to last approximately one year.

The Mars-Phobos mission will also investigate the atmosphere of Mars, the evolution and current relationship of Mars to its moons, the plasma environment and magnetic field around Mars, and the sand storms on the Martian surface.

Additional information on the mission is found at “History of the Phobos Grunt project,” as provided by RussianSpaceWeb.com.