Phobos 1 / 2

Mission Profile

Phobos 1 and 2 were twin Soviet spacecraft launched in July 1988 aboard Proton-K rockets on an ambitious mission to study Mars and its moon Phobos, including releasing a lander and surface penetrators on Phobos's surface. Phobos 1 was lost in September 1988 when an incorrect command uplink accidentally disabled its attitude control thrusters. Phobos 2 successfully reached Mars orbit in January 1989 and returned valuable data on Mars's atmosphere and Phobos's surface composition before contact was lost in March 1989, just weeks before its planned Phobos encounter. Despite both missions failing before completing their primary objectives, Phobos 1 and 2 returned the first high-quality infrared maps of the Martian surface and established the program that decades later inspired JAXA's MMX mission.