Fobos 1

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

17:38:04

Thursday July 7, 1988

Mission Details

Fobos 1

Wiki

Fobos 1 was an uncrewed Soviet space probe of the Phobos Program launched from the Baikonour launch facility on 7 July 1988. Its intended mission was to explore Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. The mission failed on 2 September 1988 when a computer malfunction caused the end-of-mission order to be transmitted to the spacecraft. At the time of launch it was the heaviest interplanetary spacecraft ever launched, weighing 6200 kg. The Phobos probe carried several scientific experiments. It carried a radar transmitter, X-ray and alpha-backscatter spectrometers, camera, and a laser that could vaporize tiny spots so a reflector could analyze the vapor for atomic masses. The probe also carried a hopper. The hopper would be dropped onto Phobos to drill and analyze the soil. It would be able to bounce across the terrain by using spring loaded legs.

Heliocentric Orbit

1 Payload

6,220 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Proton-K/Block D-2

Active 1988 to 1996

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center logo

Manufacturer

Khrunichev

Rocket

Height: 56.14m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 19,000 kg

GTO: 9,000 kg

Liftoff Thrust

9,548 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 3.9m

Height: 10.4m

Stages

4

Launch Site

Site 200/39

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Fastest Turnaround

10 days 23 hours

Stats

Proton-K


161st

Mission

7th

Mission of 1988

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center


2214th

Mission

50th

Mission of 1988

1988


59th

Orbital launch attempt