[4] Phobos was chosen as the target in order to avoid direct competition with previous American missions.

[4] Phobos 2 started to develop problems during the interplanetary flight phase of the mission.

These observations made it possible to generate the first mineralogical maps of the planet and its satellite, and to study the atmosphere of Mars.

List of instruments: The craft took 37 photos of Phobos imaging the majority (80%) of the moon.

[7] The Phobos design was used again for the long delayed Mars 96 mission which ended in failure when the launch vehicle's fourth stage misfired.