In 2011, the mission of the Phobos-Grunt probe ended, which was to land on the Martian moon, take ground samples and return to Earth with them. It seems that after an eight-year break, the flight to the Red Planet will open a new chapter of her exploration in the history of Russian astronautics. "We plan autonomous and later manned flights into the distant cosmos as part of the lunar program and the exploration of Mars. The next mission will start soon, we plan to launch a mission to Mars in 2019." - said Vladimir Putin in an interview for the needs of the emerging documentary film.
The announcement of the Martian mission may seem insignificant, but in essence it extends to the "ambitious space program of the Russian Federation" for a "series of missions to Mars".
Let us remind you that, according to earlier announcements, the first of the lunar missions, which is to examine the region of the South Pole, is due to take off next year. Another mission planned for 2023 is to test the technologies needed to set up a permanent base, the construction of which is planned after 2040.
It should not be forgotten that the joint mission of the European Space Agency and Roscosmos is still going on, exoMars, the first part of which has achieved partial success (breaking up the lander Schiaparelli), and the second is planned for 2020. Then, on the Proton rocket launched on Mars, two rovers will be launched: European and Russian.
