Animation: Russian Phobos-Grunt Mission to Grab Soil From Mars Moon

Posted on November 8, 2011

The Phobos-Grunt mission has blasted off on an ambitious mission to grab soil from the surface of Mars' tiny moon Phobos and return the samples to Earth in 2014.

Space.com reports that the spacecraft will reach Mars around Fall 2012 and drop a lander on Phobos a few months later. Here is an animation of the mission. Take a look:

Update: MSNBC reports that the mission is already in trouble - no telemetry from Phobos-Grunt probe hours after launch.

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