Posted on 11/10/2011 9:02:35 PM PST by smokingfrog
Russian engineers are scrambling to salvage a robotic Mars moon probe that is stuck in orbit around Earth, but are facing an uphill battle to get the spacecraft back on a path to the Red Planet before it becomes just another piece of space junk.
The Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft launched Tuesday (Nov. 8) and separated from its Zenit rocket as planned. But the probe's own thrusters failed to fire in a maneuver that would have sent Phobos-Grunt on a trajectory toward Mars, Russian space officials said.
Now the spacecraft, which is also carrying China's first Mars orbiter, is trapped in orbit as engineers race to solve the problem and save the mission. There have been some indications that Russian flight controllers are not able to communicate with Phobos-Grunt, which could mean that the problem is beyond repair, according to ABC News.
"I think we have lost the Phobos-Grunt," Vladimir Uvarov, a former space official at the Russian Defense Ministry, told the Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta today (Nov. 10), according to ABC News. "It looks like a serious flaw. The past experience shows that efforts to make the engines work will likely fail."
There have been conflicting news reports as to how long the Russians have before the spacecraft's batteries run out, ranging from two days to two weeks. Yesterday, Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) officials said they have two weeks to figure out how to ignite Phobos-Grunt's thrusters before the spacecraft is lost.
The $163 million Phobos-Grunt mission aimed to grab bits of the Mars moon Phobos' surface and send it back to Earth by 2014. The ambitious flight marks Russia's first attempt at an interplanetary mission since 1996.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Gee, a Shuttle assistance/repair mission would sure be useful about now...
oh, wait...
Gee, we’d love to help you guys, but our primary mission is to reach out to Muslims now. You got any of them on board?
Has anyone else noticed how much trouble everyone has getting to Mars? I think the Martians have saboteurs here to keep their planet safe from Earth junk.
Mars is jinxed or something.
I think we should forget about sending people there.
The thrusters are part of the next five year plan.
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