Of the 20 missions launched by USSR/Russia so far (not counting Phobos-Grunt), 14 were absolute failures that didn't make it to Mars or return any data. 2 of the remaining 6 were orbiter-lander missions, and the lander either burned up in entry (Mars 2) or went silent after only 20 seconds of data on the ground (Mars 3). Their orbiters sent back around 60 images though, so they can be considered marginal successes. Mars 4 failed to achieve orbit, but somehow gets counted as a success by people who tally these things because they still managed to do at least some science as it zipped by. Mars 6 ceased transmission after 224 seconds, and what data it did send was near-useless due to degradation in the electronics. The last "successful" mission sent by the Soviets was Phobos 2 in 1988. It got some great data on the way in, but contact was lost as it approached it's ultimate target, Phobos.
Mars 5 was the only hands-down, unqualified success of the entire program.
(The only post-Soviet Russian mission to Mars, Mars 96, is counted among the 14 failures).
14 failures, 5 marginal "successes", and only 1 mission that achieved its objectives completely.
I hope the people down-voting me didn't think I was being prejudiced or something. It's just the simple truth: with the Soviet/Russian Mars program, failure is the expected outcome.
If Phobos-Grunt is lost, I would be greatly saddened, but hardly surprised.
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Care to elaborate?
Russia has a very long history of failed Mars missions:
http://flowingdata.com/2009/10/26/failed-space-missions-to-m...
Of the 20 missions launched by USSR/Russia so far (not counting Phobos-Grunt), 14 were absolute failures that didn't make it to Mars or return any data. 2 of the remaining 6 were orbiter-lander missions, and the lander either burned up in entry (Mars 2) or went silent after only 20 seconds of data on the ground (Mars 3). Their orbiters sent back around 60 images though, so they can be considered marginal successes. Mars 4 failed to achieve orbit, but somehow gets counted as a success by people who tally these things because they still managed to do at least some science as it zipped by. Mars 6 ceased transmission after 224 seconds, and what data it did send was near-useless due to degradation in the electronics. The last "successful" mission sent by the Soviets was Phobos 2 in 1988. It got some great data on the way in, but contact was lost as it approached it's ultimate target, Phobos.
Mars 5 was the only hands-down, unqualified success of the entire program.
(The only post-Soviet Russian mission to Mars, Mars 96, is counted among the 14 failures).
14 failures, 5 marginal "successes", and only 1 mission that achieved its objectives completely.
I hope the people down-voting me didn't think I was being prejudiced or something. It's just the simple truth: with the Soviet/Russian Mars program, failure is the expected outcome.
If Phobos-Grunt is lost, I would be greatly saddened, but hardly surprised.