London and New York are in the huge area where Russian spacecraft might land, but it is most likely to ditch in the sea A defunct Russian spacecraft is due to re-enter the atmosphere sometime after midday (GMT) on Sunday, say scientists who are watching its orbit closely. They cannot predict precisely where it will… [Read more…]
January 6, 2012
Russia launched an ambitious Mars moon probe, the Phobos-Grunt mission, on Nov. 8, 2011 (EST) on a mission to collect the first samples of the Martian moon Phobos, but the spacecraft was soon marooned in Earth orbit. See how the Phobos-Grunt probe will fall to Earth in January 2012 in the SPACE.com infographic …. Source:LiveScience… [Read more…]
January 5, 2012
Video of a passage of Phobos-Grunt over France on January 1st 2012, at a distance of 237 km. The satellite is moving from left to right and the Sun is on the right, the consequence being that the solar panels (on the left) do not receive sunlight. More details and interpretation on http://legault.perso.sfr.fr/phobos-grunt.html . Credit : Thierry… [Read more…]
January 1, 2012
Russian space agency Roscosmos says 200kg fragments may survive re-entry but expects toxic fuel to vaporise A Russian spacecraft that became stranded in orbit on the way to Mars last year is expected to fall back to Earth next week. The 13.5 tonne Phobos-Grunt has been circling Earth since November when rocket boosters failed to… [Read more…]
November 30, 2011
BY STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW Plagued by an undiagnosed problem that stranded it in Earth orbit, Russia’s Phobos-Grunt Mars mission remained quiet Tuesday after renewed attempts to coax the craft back into contact with ground controllers. European Space Agency officials transmitted signals to raise Phobos-Grunt’s orbit Tuesday in hopes it would allow greater communications opportunities… [Read more…]
November 23, 2011
Contact has finally been made with Russia’s troubled Mars mission, says the European Space Agency (Esa)……….. Read more: www.bbc.co.uk and www.space.com
November 15, 2011
http://youtu.be/4xGscFj7j6k by DAVID WARMFLASH Editor’s note: With Russian engineers trying to save the Phobos-Grunt mission, Dr. David Warmflash, principal science lead for the US team from the LIFE experiment on board the spacecraft, provides an update of the likelihood of saving the mission, while offering the intriguing prospect that their experiment could possibly be recovered,… [Read more…]
November 12, 2011
(update) Russia Mars probe considered lost Efforts to resume contact with a Russian space mission to Mars stuck in Earth orbit after launch have failed and the probe must be considered lost, Interfax news agency reported Saturday. “All attempts to obtain telemetric information from the Phobos-Grunt probe and activate its command system have failed. The… [Read more…]
June 17, 2011
Earlier this month, ESA’s Mars Express performed a special manoeuvre to observe an unusual alignment of Jupiter and the martian moon Phobos. The impressive images have now been processed into a movie of this rare event. At the moment when Mars Express, Phobos, and Jupiter aligned on 1 June 2011, there was a distance of 11 389… [Read more…]
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January 12, 2012
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