#phobos 2

[marsmissiontournament]

Round 3 Match 8

Perseverance vs Phobos 2

Read about Perseverance and Phobos 2.

Which Mars mission is your favourite?

Perseverance

Phobos 2

Voting ended onApr 27, 2023

[marsmissiontournament]

Round 2 Match 16

Mars 6 vs Phobos 2

Read about Mars 6 and Phobos 2.

Which Soviet Mars mission is your favourite?

Mars 6

Phobos 2

Voting ended onApr 25, 2023

[marsmissiontournament]

Meet the Contestants: Phobos 2

Phobos 2 painting [NASA/Michael Carroll]

Phobos 2 was a Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) mission to explore Mars and its moons, Phobos and Deimos. It was supposed to be one of two missions, but the first, Phobos 1, failed before reaching Mars.

Phobos 2 launched July 12, 1988 and reached Mars orbit January 29, 1989. The mission included a lander which was meant to land on Phobos’ surface, but lost contact before this stage. Prior to this, though, the spacecraft managed to image Mars and around 80% of Phobos’ surface.

Read more about Phobos 2 and see some images on the IKI mission site.

Tune in for round 2 of the Mars Mission Tournament, when Phobos goes up against one of the later Soviet Mars missions.

[pappubahry]

Phobos, photographed by the Soviet spacecraft Phobos 2, with Mars in the background of some frames.  This is (clearly) not a continuous sequence, more a collection of some of the images returned by Phobos 2 in the brief period in which it was working properly, 21 February to 25 March 1989.