Photos: Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mission to Mars Moon

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Russia Packs Mars Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft for Launch

Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)

Russia Packs Mars Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft for Launch

Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)

Russian space engineers seal the Mars Phobos-Grunt spacecraft inside its Zenit 3SL rocket nosecone for a Nov. 2011 launch toward the Red Planet to explore Mars and its moon Phobos.

Mars Express Photos of Phobos

ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

The view of Phobos from all five channels on Mars Express' High Resolution Stereo Camera.

Russia Packs Mars Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft for Launch

Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)

Russian space engineers seal the Mars Phobos-Grunt spacecraft inside its Zenit 3SL rocket nosecone for a Nov. 2011 launch toward the Red Planet to explore Mars and its moon Phobos.

Phobos-Grunt Spectrometer

University of Mainz

The miniaturized Mössbauer Spectrometer aboard the Mars probe Phobos-Grunt was developed by the Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the University of Mainz in Germany. It carries a small amount of radioactive material, cobalt-57.

Russia Packs Mars Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft for Launch

Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)

Russian space engineers seal the Mars Phobos-Grunt spacecraft inside its Zenit 3SL rocket nosecone for a Nov. 2011 launch toward the Red Planet to explore Mars and its moon Phobos.

Russia Packs Mars Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft for Launch

Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)

Russian space engineers seal the Mars Phobos-Grunt spacecraft inside its Zenit 3SL rocket nosecone for a Nov. 2011 launch toward the Red Planet to explore Mars and its moon Phobos.

LIFE Experiment, Exploded View

The Planetary Society

The LIFE experiment, exploded view.

The LIFE Module

The Planetary Society

This sealed module was used in tests of the experiment's strength and resiliency. It is identical to the module that will fly to Phobos.

Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
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