• Ring Ring - Phobos-Grunt Space Probe Picks Up
    18 replies, posted
[quote]Contact has finally been made with Russia's troubled Mars mission, says the European Space Agency (Esa). The agency reports that its tracking station in Perth, Australia, picked up a signal from the Phobos-Grunt probe. Esa is now working with Russian engineers to see how best to maintain communications with the craft. Phobos-Grunt has been stuck in Earth orbit since its launch on 9 November, unable to fire the engine that would take it on to Mars. It raises the hope that Russian controllers can establish what is wrong with the spacecraft and fix it. Phobos-Grunt still has a short window in which to start its journey before a change in the alignment of the planets makes the distance to the Red Planet too big to cross. Low power The European Space Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany, reports that the contact was made at 2025 GMT on Tuesday. The agency had to modify its 15m dish in Perth to get through to Phobos-Grunt. This required widening the antenna's beam to catch the probe in its uncertain orbit. Perth also reduced the power of the transmission to make it more like the sort of faint X-band signal the craft would expect to hear at Mars. "We were able to get our transmission in and the commands that were sent then allowed the transmitter on the spacecraft to be turned on; and then we saw the signal coming back into our big dish," explained Dr Klaus-Juergen Schulz, the head of the ground station systems division at Esa-Esoc. "We also made some radiometric measurements to derive a more precise orbit. This should make it easier to contact Phobos-Grunt in future." The next pass opportunity is after 2020 [GMT]. At that time, the probe will be in sight of the dish and its solar panels will also be flooded with sunlight to power onboard systems. All the information gathered in Tuesday night's communication, including telemetry from Phobos-Grunt, has been passed straight to the Russians. Exciting prospect The probe was built to land on the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, and scoop up rock to bring back to Earth. Such a venture should yield fascinating new insights into the origin of the 27km-wide object and the planet it circles. The mission is also notable because China's first Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1, has been launched piggy-back on the main Russian spacecraft. The 13-tonne mission was initially lifted into a 350km-high orbit above Earth, with the expectation that the probe's big engine would fire twice - first, to raise that orbit, and, second, to set course for Mars. But for some reason, those engine burns never happened, and Phobos-Grunt has continued to circle the Earth. All efforts to talk with it have failed - until now. Fortunately, the probe has managed to maintain itself in a stable condition. The perigee of its elliptical orbit (the closest point it comes to Earth) has actually risen slightly, and is just above 200km. If engineers can keep a communication line open to the craft, they can begin to diagnose its problems. The best scenario is that the issues are related to a software anomaly, and that engineers can then upload new commands. But if the fault lies in a hardware malfunction, Phobos-Grunt may still be beyond hope.[/quote] [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15850516]**SOURCE**[/url] It amuses me how Russia just can't get the knack of making it to Mars.
Please let it work. Getting a sample from another extraterrestrial source is just awesome.
How hard can it be, really?
[QUOTE=DrLuke;33409169]How hard can it be, really?[/QUOTE] The financial support Alone is hard
[QUOTE=DrLuke;33409169]How hard can it be, really?[/QUOTE] It's not like it's rocket science or anything.
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;33409391]It's not like it's rocket science or anything.[/QUOTE] But one would think they got the basic stuff like communication in earth orbit figured out already.
[QUOTE=DrLuke;33409169]How hard can it be, really?[/QUOTE] Last time someone said that about sending things into space it ended up with a Reliant Robin exploding spectacularly
[QUOTE=DrLuke;33409596]But one would think they got the basic stuff like communication in earth orbit figured out already.[/QUOTE] Since it didn't even fire its rockets and enter its correct orbit, I think it's safe to say that there may be a few more hinders than just the communication between the probe and Earth. I'm thinking perhaps too low power, different standard in equipment seeing as they had to modify the Australian antenna and other factors.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;33409965]Since it didn't even fire its rockets and enter its correct orbit, I think it's safe to say that there may be a few more hinders than just the communication between the probe and Earth. I'm thinking perhaps too low power, different standard in equipment seeing as they had to modify the Australian antenna and other factors.[/QUOTE] Seeing how it successfully staged and made an off but stable orbit I would say there's a botched line of code somewhere and the computer is hung on it. Once you are that high up all you need to fire the engine is for two valves to open. We should of at least seen something happen if only one opened.
[QUOTE=MIPS;33408413] It amuses me how Russia just can't get the knack of making it to Mars.[/QUOTE] shit that hinders space related stuff is never amusing.
[QUOTE=Murkrow;33409863]Last time someone said that about sending things into space it ended up with a Reliant Robin exploding spectacularly[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1132768?highlight=monkey+space[/url]
woo
[QUOTE=MIPS;33408413][url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15850516]**SOURCE**[/url] It amuses me how Russia just can't get the knack of making it to Mars.[/QUOTE] It amuses not at all how the US doesn't even fucking try because north america blew it all on defense at least the russians get involved in horrible oppressive wars on the cheap, and spare some change for their space program
[I]w..What?! oh... oh, right... data... you wanted data.... yeah, I just got... a bit sleepy here... the orbital thrusters hum so nicely and the casing of the booster is so comfortable... sorry... yeah, yeah, I am on it... trajectory to mars and everything... yeah, all systems oprational.. right... ...ok, we are set... I will be at mars in six months... would you... would you mind... if I took another nap?.. just a short one... yeah... I will wake up, I promise... just... give me a while... *snore*[/I]
Well unfortunately while we might still have time to get in contact with the craft again, the window in which the probe was to use on its trip to mars has closed and the mission has failed. [quote]Apart from some brief radio contact with the wayward probe just over a week ago, there has been total silence from the spacecraft. The European Space Agency announced on Friday that it was now ceasing any further attempts to get a signal. Russian engineers though are expected to keep trying to the last. "We will stay available for our Russian colleagues in case there is any sign or glimpse of hope from their side," said Dr Manfred Warhaut from Esa's European Space Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany. It was Esa's 15m antenna in Perth, Australia, that first managed to get a response from Phobos-Grunt on 22 and 23 November (GMT). That success was quickly followed by Russian ground controllers using a 0.5m dish in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. But since then, the probe has not reacted to any commands. Phobos-Grunt is currently moving in an orbit with an altitude that varies between 200km (perigee) and 340km (apogee). This orbit is slowly decaying. If engineers cannot re-establish contact and control, the 13-tonne spacecraft will eventually fall back to Earth. The game-plan of late has been to try to stabilise the orbit by getting commands into the probe that would activate its thrusters and raise it higher in the sky. Getting Phobos-Grunt into a safe "parking orbit" would buy engineers more time to consider their options. The opportunity to go to Mars, however, has been lost. The changing alignment of the planets now makes the distance to Mars too big to cross. Phobos-Grunt was built to land on the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, and scoop up rock to bring back to Earth. Such a venture should yield fascinating new insights into the origin of the 27km-wide object and the planet it circles. The mission is also notable because China's first Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1, has been launched piggy-back on the main Russian spacecraft. While Esa was always going to provide ground support to the Phobos-Grunt mission, the agency said it now felt it had done everything it could do to help. "We have exhausted all the technical options at this point," said Wolfgang Hell, Esa's Phobos-Grunt service manager.[/quote] [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16010332]**SOURCE**[/url] Sorry Russia. Looks like your curse is still in effect.
[QUOTE=Contag;33417003]It amuses not at all how the US doesn't even fucking try because north america blew it all on defense at least the russians get involved in horrible oppressive wars on the cheap, and spare some change for their space program[/QUOTE] The US decided to let capitalism take over, and that will probably ultimately work out best
[QUOTE=DrLuke;33409596]But one would think they got the basic stuff like communication in earth orbit figured out already.[/QUOTE] Doing shit in space is really hard, considering it's something that's only come about in the last half-century.
[QUOTE=Upgrade123;33557907]Doing shit in space is really hard, considering it's something that's only come about in the last half-century.[/QUOTE] We accomplished more in the first 20 years in the history of space flight than in the last 20 years.
[QUOTE=MIPS;33558179]We accomplished more in the first 20 years in the history of space flight than in the last 20 years.[/QUOTE] It's still really hard
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