Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Fobos-Grunt Lifts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome

Fobos-Grunt mission to scoop Phobos, one of the moons of Mars...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LfsNzNEHhM#!&t=3495
(note how the tail disappears @ about 1hour mark)

The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars' orbit in September 2012, with landing on Phobos scheduled for February 2013.

Update: it seems it is stuck in the earth's space because of some technical troubles... they say if it does not fire in two days, it might be lost!
Ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15684192

On the other news:
Mars Science Laboratory, a suv sized rover, is going to be launched by the end of this month.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-347
Snapshot credit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Follow MSL @marscuriosity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos-Grunt