Summary
Phobos 2 operated nominally throughout its cruise and Mars orbital insertion phases on January 29, 1989, gathering data on the Sun, interplanetary medium, Mars, and Phobos. Shortly before the final phase of the mission, during which the spacecraft was to approach within 50 m of Phobos' surface and release two landers, one a mobile “hopper”, the other a stationary platform, contact with Phobos 2 was lost. The mission ended when the spacecraft signal failed to be successfully reacquired on March 27, 1989. The cause of the failure was determined to be a malfunction of the on-board computer.
The Phobos design was used again for the long delayed Mars 96 mission which ended in failure when the launch vehicle’s fourth stage misfired.
Cospar ID
1988-059a
Launch Date
1988-07-12
Orbital Insertion Date
1989-01-29