The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft will land on the surface of Phobos, take soil samples and return them to Earth, RIA Novosti reported Friday.

"The aim of the test is to narrow down the lander's projected impact location on the surface of the Earth," a statement by Russia's Central Aerodynamic Institute said.

"As far as the lander ... does not include any signaling equipment ... narrowing down its projected impact area will make the search for it easier," the statement said.

The project was conceived in 1999, and in June 2006 the Russian aerospace company NPO Lavochkin started manufacturing and testing the development version of the spacecraft's on-board equipment.

The mission is expected to begin in November 2011 and last some 330 days, RIA Novosti said.

earlier related report
We're thinking of you, 'Mars astronauts' tell Chilean miners
Paris (AFP) Sept 10, 2010 - Six men who are cut off from the rest of the world in an experiment to simulate a voyage to Mars have sent a message of support to Chile's trapped miners and urged them to "stay busy."

"When you are in isolation you tend to feel closer to all the other people who are living, or who have lived, the same kind of experience," volunteer "astronaut" Romain Charles said in a diary entry released by the European Space Agency (ESA) in Paris on Friday.

"In particular, all our thoughts go to the 33 miners in Chile who are trapped beneath the ground. Their living conditions are really tough and I hope that our message... will reach them."

The six -- an Italian, three Russians and a Chinese in addition to Charles, a Frenchman -- were locked up in a 550-cubic-metre (19,400-cubic-foot) mock spaceship in a Moscow research institute on June 3.

The idea is to simulate the effects on humans of a 520-day mission to the Red Planet.

The crew has to survive on limited food rations and their only communication with the outside world is by email, with a delay of up to 40 minutes.

Charles said he had sought counsel from submariners and other people experienced in living in isolation.

This advice was offered to the miners: "Stay busy, be careful with your health and keep a normal day-night schedule."

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