Phobos-Grunt

Phobos-Grunt is a planned Russian sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. Phobos-Grunt will also study Mars and its environment, including atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation. Development started in 2001 and the preliminary design was completed in 2004. After that, the selection of scientific instruments will take place. Electric jet propulsion is considered for this mission. Phobos-Grunt is scheduled to be launched in 2009 on a Soyuz launcher.