the presence of volatile compounds, such as water. Sample return to Earth The return stage was mounted on top of the lander. It would have needed to accelerate to to escape Phobos' gravity. In order to avoid harming the experiments remaining at the lander, the return stage would have ignited its engine once the vehicle had been vaulted to a safe height by springs. It would then have begun maneuvers for the eventual trip to Earth, where it would have arrived in August 2014. An 11-kg descent vehicle containing the capsule with soil samples (up to ) would have been released on direct approach to Earth at . Following the aerodynamic braking to the conical descent vehicle would perform a hard landing without a parachute within the Sary Shagan test range in Kazakhstan. The vehicle did not have any radio equipment. Ground-based radar and optical observations would have been used to track the vehicle's return. Summary of intended mission phases Ground control The mission control center was located at the Center for Deep Space Communications (Национальный центр управления и испытаний космических средств , equipped with RT-70 radio telescope near Yevpatoria in Crimea. Russia and Ukraine agreed in late October 2010 that the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, would have controlled the probe. Communications with the spacecraft on the initial parking orbit are described in a two-volume publication. Scientific critiques Barry E. DiGregorio, Director of the International Committee Against Mars Sample Return (ICAMSR), criticised the LIFE experiment carried by Fobos-Grunt as a violation of the Outer Space Treaty due to the possibility of contamination of Phobos or Mars with the microbial spores and live bacteria it contains should it have lost control and crash-landed on either body. It is speculated that the heat-resistant extremophile bacteria could survive such a crash, on the basis that Microbispora bacteria survived the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. According to Fobos-Grunt Chief Designer Maksim Martynov, the probability of the probe accidentally reaching the surface of Mars was much lower than the maximum specified for Category III missions, the type assigned to Fobos-Grunt and defined in COSPAR's planetary protection policy (in accordance with Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty). See also References Further reading External links NSSDC entry of Fobos-Grunt Space probes launched in 2011 Missions to Mars Phobos (moon) Russian space probes Sample return missions Spacecraft which reentered in 2012 2011 in Russia Destroyed