[QUOTE][URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16221975"][B]Russia's space agency (Roscosmos) says its unsuccessful Mars probe will fall back to Earth next month.[/B]
[/URL]The unmanned Phobos-Grunt spacecraft became stranded in orbit in November.The agency says it [B]expects the toxic fuel on board to burn up on re-entry, but 20-30 fragments of the spacecraft will survive to the surface.[/B]Current Roscosmos estimates for the timing of the[B] fall are between 6 and 19 January[/B], but this window will be narrowed nearer the event.
Professional and amateur groups around the world will also be modelling the decay in the orbit in an attempt to determine precisely where and when Phobos-Grunt might come down. Phobos-Grunt is currently moving around the Earth at an altitude that varies between 201km (perigee) and 275km (apogee). The maximum latitudes are 51 degrees North and South, encompassing London (UK) in the Northern Hemisphere and Punta Arenas (Chile) in the Southern Hemisphere.
The spacecraft's mass at launch was some 13 tonnes, most of which was the propellants unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and dinitrogen tetroxide (DTO). These are extremely unpleasant substances and the Russian authorities will be hoping they are destroyed during the descent.
With more than 70% of the Earth's surface covered by water, the chances are that any fragments that do survive the fiery re-entry will end up in the ocean.
[B]Roscosmos says it expects only about 200kg to make it all the way through.[/B] [B]Phobos-Grunt was built to land on the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, to scoop up rock and bring it back to Earth.[/B] Such a venture would have yielded fascinating new insights into the origin of the 27km-wide object and the planet it circles. The mission [B]was notable also because China's first Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1, was launched piggy-back on the main Russian spacecraft.[/B] It will come back into the atmosphere with the Russian probe.
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[URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16221975[/URL]
So sad to see that it has to end this way. After 10 years of work and participation of several nations, it failed without even leaving our planet. The success of such a mission would be incredible.
Aww
Damn shame they're most likely not gonna go for another attempt.
Fuck this shit, I really wished for a success for russia. Russia always had a hard time with mars probes, and it always failed due to some mundane shit. Maybe they should invest some more time and money into reliable rocket engines and then attempt another launch.
I can't see why Russia's space agency and Nasa can't work together, why is it always such a cock fight ffs
What was the cause of it getting stuck? The article doesn't go into detail ...
[editline]27th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=mr apple;33919115]I can't see why Russia's space agency and Nasa can't work together, why is it always such a cock fight ffs[/QUOTE]
They already do. All of NASA's launches these days use Russian rockets, since they don't have the shuttle anymore :v:
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;33919117]What was the cause of it getting stuck? The article doesn't go into detail ...
[editline]27th December 2011[/editline]
They already do. All of NASA's launches these days use Russian rockets, since they don't have the shuttle anymore :v:[/QUOTE]
They lost contact with it shortly after it got into orbit.
[QUOTE=DrLuke;33919093]Fuck this shit, I really wished for a success for russia. Russia always had a hard time with mars probes, and it always failed due to some mundane shit. Maybe they should invest some more time and money into reliable rocket engines and then attempt another launch.[/QUOTE]
Their trail and error aproach is also good though. Sucks it fails so much, but it resulted into reliable space worthy equipment.
Russia's space agency has had some colossal fuckups this year.
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