NGO named after S. A. Lavochkina is working on a mission to collect soil from Phobos, planned after 2030
The S.A. Lavochkin Research and Production Association (S.A. Lavochkin NVO) (part of the State Corporation “Roscosmos”) is engaged in the development of a program for the launch of the Russian interplanetary station “Boomerang” after 2030. This station is to deliver soil from the Mars moon Phobos. This was announced by the TARS agency.
The first stage of the “Expedition-M” project to explore Mars, including its moons Phobos and Deimos, will be the launch of a station for the remote and contact method of research. The main tasks of the mission are landing on heavenly bodies in the absence of gravity and delivering samples of the Phobos substance to Earth.
The project has been under development for a long time, as back in 2016, the technical terms of reference for the project stated that the Russian interplanetary space station “Boomerang” should deliver to Earth about 600 grams of soil from Phobos with the participation of the European Space Agency. However, in November 2022, the general director of Roscosmos, Yuriy Borisov, announced the complete refusal of ESA to cooperate with Russia.
Boomerang is planned to be launched from the Skhydny cosmodrome using the Angara launch vehicle. The weight of the spacecraft should be 6.5 tons. It is planned to fly the device to Mars and enter orbits around Mars, Phobos and Deimos. Next, the device will conduct a remote study of celestial bodies. After that, a soft landing on the surface of Phobos and collection of soil samples is planned. Then Boomerang will leave Phobos for Earth, where it is planned to land near Russia.