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Russia postpones sample mission to Martian moon until 2011

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-22 19:59

MOSCOW: Russia has delayed the launch of an unmanned lander to Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, to 2011 because of a tight schedule and the need for more tests on all systems involved in the project, a space official said Monday.

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"A dramatic decision was made today by the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The Phobos-Grunt project was put off by two years until the arrival of the next astronomical window," Lev Zeleny, chief of the Institute of Space Research at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told reporters.

The unmanned Phobos-Grunt was designed to study Mars and its two moons for several months from orbit before landing on Phobos and collecting soil samples, according to media reports.

Under the new schedule, the vehicle will return to Earth in 2012.

China's first Mars probe YH-1 originally was scheduled to blast off this fall with the Russian unmanned lander as part of the China-Russia joint Mars probe project.