The Lavochkin Research and Production Association (NPO), part of Roscosmos, is developing the Russian interplanetary station project "Boomerang" to extract soil from Mars' moon Phobos. The mission is planned to launch after 2030 using the Angara launch vehicle from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
According to NPO materials, the "Boomerang" mission will be the first stage of the "Expedition-M" project, aimed at exploring Mars and its moons - Phobos and Deimos. The main tasks of the mission will be landing on these celestial bodies in zero gravity conditions and delivering soil samples from Phobos back to Earth.
Back in 2016, the terms of reference for the preliminary design mentioned plans to deliver about 600 grams of soil from Phobos to Earth. It was then stated that such a mission would only be possible in cooperation with the European Space Agency. However, in November last year, Roscosmos CEO Yuri Borisov announced that the European Space Agency had refused to work with Russia.
It is planned that the "Boomerang" spacecraft, weighing 6.5 tons, will be able to reach Mars, enter its orbits of Phobos and Deimos, and then conduct their remote study. The task will also be a soft landing on the surface of Phobos and the collection of soil samples. After that, the return vehicle will go with samples to Earth and land on the territory of Russia.
Yesterday it became known that flight tests of the latest Russian Angara-A5 launch vehicle will be completed in 2024.
Now on home
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