The last gasp: Mars-96

Abstract

The Soviet Union had planned to follow up their Phobos mission with a surface investigation of Mars. This was originally scheduled for launch in 1992 but funding was delayed and the launch date had to be postponed until 1994. The plan called for two orbiters to be launched in 1994, each of which would deploy a balloon into the atmosphere and small landers onto the surface, the launch of two orbiters in 1996 to deploy rovers onto the surface, and the launch of a sample return mission in 1998. In a revision, the plan was descoped to a single orbiter in 1994 carrying small landers and penetrators and a second orbiter in 1996 carrying the balloon and a rover. After the fall of the Soviet Union, further funding difficulties in the new Russia resulted in the launch of the 1994 mission being postponed to 1996 and the launch of the 1996 mission being postponed to 1998.