Science
Russia again fails to make contact with Mars moon probe
Topic: Phobos-Grunt spacecraft
Phobos-Grunt probe at the Baikonur space center
© RIA Novosti. Oleg UrusovMOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti)
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Contact with Russian Mars probe 'unlikely' – expertRussia has again been again unsuccessful in its attempts to establish contact with its Phobos Grunt probe, whose engines failed to put in on course for Mars after take-off, a source in the space rocket industry told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
“Attempts to make contact were made overnight and this morning by Russian specialists from the European Space Agency. This was done from Baikonour and other tracking areas, but contact was not established,” the source said.
He also said Russia was being assisted by U.S. scientists and had until November 21 to make contact.
The craft, designed to bring back rock and soil samples from the Martian moon, Phobos, is currently stuck in a “support orbit.” It blasted off from the Baikonour Space Centre in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
The Phobos-Grunt is also carrying China’s first Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1.
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- JeEzDaMars Moon Probe18:12, 13/11/2011Why does any super power bother to send space craft costing billions, into space? Here's my reason for asking this question: Our human minuteness in the vast cosmos we live in. We have been sending radio messages into space to make contact with any "intelligence" out there for more than 50 years - no avail! Why - shear distance: There are only three other star systems in addition to Alpha Centauri with a possibility of radio reply in less than 100 years(260 years from Aldebaran, 1 000 years from Spica and some 6 000 years from Orion) - get the point? If we could build spacecraft that could exceed the speed of light(impossible) and even if we could travel at ten times the speed of light, it would take 10 000 years to cross our own galaxy; 25 000 years to to circle it.
So, why waste money on the impossible - rather use it to make our world a better place- ratnikfailed mission could be easily fixed IF02:35, 17/11/2011IF the space station, where are located Russian cosmonauts today, could be steered into position by using a Soyuz booster, or better still, eqip the space station with vectoring propulsive systems of it's own. Then you could also use the ISS for disarmament-confirming missions under the IAEA.
